Fermentation
by millythompson
Summary: It's been 50 years since the Big Fall; the differences between Vash and Knives are too big to ignore, will they finally go their seperate ways? (manga based, part 3 of 3)
1. Lost & Found

Howdy again! Sorry it's taken me so long to get up a new chapter to this trilogy, I'd been having quite the stupor. If you've never read any of my stories before, please check out "Free Like Them" and "Finding Home" before reading "Fermentation" because this is of course a three-part story! It's manga based for the most part, some original characters, mostly I borrow Knives and Vash from Nightow (for as long as I may!). If you're not familiar with Trigun Maximum then there might be spoilers. Just be warned, however I think I cover most of the bases so you should be all set! I hope you like it! Feel free to review or drop me a line at my website if you like what I've done! More chapters to come!  
  
PS – if you've read this already, just know that it's been edited, so please read it again if you get confused!  
  
Chapter 1  
Lost & Found  
  
The desert planet fell under two categories, rock and sand. Under the surface of the planet lay water, buried deep beneath the stone and dirt, far down where it took miners weeks to break into the deposits. But it was water, real water, like back on Earth. The humans found comfort in their discoveries and cities grew as wells were dug around the towering plants where once ships crashed into desolation. Forty-six years passed since the Big Fall and now, and there were first and second-generation children living here on this planet, a place where once nothing but a few measly creatures made their home.  
A great catastrophe occurred all those years ago, and even though it was labeled with a name, it still didn't quite cover the amount of damage or the lives that were lost during a few days' span as a huge fleet of ships crashed upon this lonely planet. Most people who were alive during those days were dead now, the desert planet was not very kind upon the older generation. Many of them sought to bring back the old days and hoped beyond hope that someday Earth would come to retrieve them. After a time, the younger generations turned their attention to surviving and making the most of where they were. This was a new planet, a second Earth, but no one named the planet for one unspoken reason; man was not meant to live here, and thus man would not always live here, and had no ownership rights.  
Although man did not believe he owned the planet, there was one being who believed he did. He had chosen this place to land, chosen this dusty planet to make his own paradise with the help of his brother and sisters. He gave himself a second name, Millions, after the number he had slaughtered. Then he gave the planet a name; Gunsmoke. His brother didn't take kindly to either name, and refused to use them. "Knives... Could you wait up?"  
"I'm always waiting, Vash." He stopped his walk and took a breath. Knives stood on a rocky outcropping that spread over vast sand dunes. He could feel the suns on his head and the breeze through his hair even as his brother came to stand beside him. The breeze failed to cool, nothing was as cold as space, and for this he was thankful. He never did like space. This place would become a paradise for him and his sibling, even as the green-eyed skinny man next to him huffed from the climb.  
"Looks like we've come to a dead-end again, eh Knives?" Vash said, hands on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. "Probably have to turn around."  
"We're going to keep going," Knives responded, his eyes squinting in the bright light. "This expanse is the only place we haven't checked recently." He eyed his brother curiously; the last time they avoided coming this way as well.  
Vash looked up at him and made to clutch his stomach. "We haven't eaten in weeks Knives... Don't you think we should at least go back to the last town for supplies?"  
Frowning, Knives started down the cliff. "No, we are not going back to those humans. Don't you remember what the last group did to you?"  
His brother lowered his eyes and followed behind Knives. "They were desperate, that's all... I don't blame them..." Vash just barely managed to avoid Knives' arm as it swung in his direction. He stumbled backwards and slid down the hill a few feet before managing to upright himself again to sit on his butt. Knives stood above him sneering. "I... I don't Knives. They had their reasons. I just don't see why you had to... To do that."  
Knives looked down at his hands, remembering the blood that covered them just a few weeks before. "They tried to use you Vash, just like they use our sisters every day. Don't you understand? No one should use any sentient being for his own use. Or did you want to be stuck in a laboratory and be torn apart like Tessla was?"  
Vash winced at the name of their older sister. It might have been nearly a half-century since her death, but Knives never forgot to bring her up when times called for justice. Why was Vash so eager to forgive these beings? It took a week for his brother to be well enough after the last fight to start moving again. If he hadn't gotten involved in the humans' affairs than he wouldn't have had to run in and save Vash from being chopped up in tiny pieces. He should have known better than to offer to save the plant in front of the humans... It was a battle of wills, save his kind and the humans or sacrifice both? Knives told Vash to let them alone, but he wouldn't listen. The humans very nearly killed him this time. Knives walked through the rocks and extended a hand to his brother. "Here, take it," Vash complied and Knives pulled him to his feet again. "We don't need supplies if we find the ship, Vash. I have a feeling we'll see it this time, I can almost taste it now..."  
"I was afraid you might say that," Vash responded. He shook his head, "I'm just worried about the sandworms. Do you think they'll just ignore us?"  
From beneath his cloak, Knives produced his newest toy, a machete. They'd tried to kill Vash with it and he had used it on those stinking pieces of garbage. He liked the feel of a blade. Even as a child he liked the cold steel, the way it sliced through skin and bone, and the pain it inflicted. "If they don't, I'll kill them." He continued down the rocks and into the deep sand. The suns were sinking toward the horizon as the two men passed into the dunes.  
  
"There it is." Knives' mouth split into a grin as his eyes focused on an object over the next dune. They'd been in the Dead Sea of Sand as he called it for over a week, and Vash looked skinnier than before. He didn't understand his brother's condition. They didn't need food or water. They were power sources on their own. So why did Vash seem to be suffering from the same afflictions a human would? Knives sighed, at least they were near a ship now, and it wouldn't be long before they solved the food problem. "We'll be there by sunset."  
Vash just nodded beside him. He'd also become quieter. His brother hardly said a word now that they were in the deep sands. The sandworms left them alone, but there was nothing in this desert, nothing living, but two free plants searching for a ship from their childhood. Finally Vash said, "I wonder which one it will be?"  
"Judging by the distance and direction from the majority of the ships, I'd say this is one of the leading craft." Knives dashed down the hill of sand and started climbing the next one, listening to his shoes whistling through the loose grains. Vash followed behind like a ghost. Only the sound of shifting sand and a slight breeze broke the silence of this place. Knives was always amazed at how quiet it was. The ship had always been noisy, a humming of electricity at all times coupled with turning motors and circulating air. This planet was so quiet, as long as they weren't near the noisy humans. The humans were worse than the ship had been.  
They continued on through the rest of the day until the ship arose above them in its splendor. It was huge, much bigger than some of the other ships that they came across in the past. On its side read "SEEDS" followed by a word that Knives never thought he'd see, "Number One". He stopped walking, his mouth dropping open as he stared at this fallen hunk of metal. Vash stopped beside him and he choked, falling to his knees. They'd both seen it burn up in the atmosphere from the escape pod. But no... most of it survived, and it was here that it landed, the mother ship, where they'd grown up with Rem.  
"It couldn't be..." Knives whispered and started forward only to find Vash clutching his pant leg. "Vash, what are you..." He stopped to see tears running down his brother's face turning dust into mud down his cheeks. Knives frowned, glancing over his shoulder to the ship and then back again. What was he doing? They were home the only home either of them had known in nearly fifty years, so why was Vash crying? He's always crying! Why does he do this?  
"Don't... We can't..." Vash croaked below him. "That... Rem... We can't use that ship." He clutched at Knives with both hands now, pulling him to the ground beside him. Eye to eye the brothers stared at each other in silence until finally Knives broke the connection and looked up at the ship. Vash sputtered; "I don't want to go in there... Not again."  
Knives shrugged Vash off of him. "It's home Vash. I thought you'd want to go home." His eyes focused on the ship and he stood. Starting to walk again, he raised his hands to the beautiful remains of their home in space. "Don't you want to know what happened to them all?"  
"Rem's dead..."  
"Not Rem, you idiot... The plants." He kept walking even as Vash scrambled behind him, putting hands on him, trying to stop him, blubbering non-sense as Knives continued to push him away. Soon they stood within the ship's shadow. "I'm going in Vash."  
"She's dead, don't you remember Knives!" Vash screamed behind him. "Please... Let's just leave this graveyard alone..." Knives turned on his brother and his hands formed into fists. If he kept talking... This was everything he'd been dreaming of for years now! To find this one ship, the key to their survival on the planet, only to have his brother tell him he can't have it... No! Knives couldn't stand to think that Vash would stop him from realizing his dream... And yet he kept talking. "There's only one plant left in there! She isn't powerful enough to fuel your plans Knives... Leave the ship alone. Haven't you done enough? You've destroyed everything, why can't you just leave one thing alone?"  
"I won't be bossed around by you!" Knives threw himself at Vash and they wrestled in the sand. Pinning his brother into the ground, Knives clutched Vash's collar and slammed him down, again and again until Vash's head started to bleed. "You can feel her? You can feel our sister! You've known this ship was here the whole time! Didn't you? That's why you made sure that we never came into the sand! You knew all of this time!" He punched Vash and his brother started to cry harder, unable to speak through his tears. "You bastard!" How dare his brother betray him! This was the worst thing that Vash could hide from him... To know all of this time, how long had it been since they'd been through here because of Vash's begging... Kept saying he was afraid of the sandworms, but the truth was he was keeping Knives away from realizing his goal, all this time! "You're not my brother... My brother would not betray me! He would not keep secrets from me!"  
Pulling away, Knives stood again and rubbed his fist. Vash continued to cry, his cheek red and head bleeding. "If you'd told me before we could have avoided all of this... Don't you understand? We could have been free of these miserable humans a long time ago!" He kicked sand at Vash and turned to go into the ship. It didn't matter what he said. Even one of their sisters could make the difference. He'd make a weapon and destroy the humans once and for all and then he'd gather the others and create paradise. Knives could do it, and he would, soon, very soon.  
One glance behind, and Knives knew Vash wasn't following him immediately into their old home. The angle that the ship fell allowed easy entrance into the hull. Only two portions remained here, just the cold sleep chamber and the plant chamber. It was upright, just as he remembered it. If what Vash said was correct however, out of all of their sisters, only one still survived... It was like before, when he had woken the plant in New Orlando. Vash swore he did not know how he did it, but now Knives wondered how many secrets Vash was keeping from him. Knives knew how much Vash hated the plants, how he hated his own existence as one of them. It would only be right that he'd lie about it. How many other lies did Vash tell him? Knives growled to himself and slid his fingers down the length of the machete that swung at his side. The blade was sharp and cut his finger with ease. He looked at his hand for a moment and smiled at the color. Wiping the blood off on his suit, he walked through the familiar territory of his childhood.  
Knives climbed into the plant chamber and looked around at his old home. He'd been locked out of this place, and he hated Rem for it. How he missed talking to them! But why could Vash hear them now and not him? Had he not been the one who discovered that they could speak to the plants? They never responded, but the connection was enough. Knives searched the dark interior; so many bulbs were broken and black. But there... Off to one side was a glass globe still intact. He ran over to it and placed his hands against the cool glass. Sister...Wake up.  
Footsteps behind him and Vash came to stand next to him. "Have you ever been able to hear them?" His eyes focused again on the intact bulb and Knives looked at it watching as she formed into her beautiful angelic shape. What was going on? Could Vash talk to them in words? Did that mean... No... I'm not more like a human than he is! Damn it, I won't accept that! I'll try harder... I'll find a way to be more like them. I've just been away from my own kind too long. He stared at the globe, thinking as hard as he could, urging her to come to him, but those cold empty eyes were on Vash, forever on him, as if Knives didn't exist at all. Knives sunk down onto his knees. Vash sat down next to him and pointed to the door at the far end of the room. "Look, it's open. I know you said you'd get in there again, now is your chance." Knives turned to look at where his brother pointed.  
"Mother..." Knives scrambled to his feet. She died long ago, but he had to see her... What remained of her... This place... It was a graveyard just as Vash said... Full of ghosts... Knives started to hate this place. Especially now that he knew his brother could talk to them. Why hadn't he noticed the signs so long ago when Vash mentioned that she was tired? Knives knew she was dying, but never felt what she felt... He dug his thumb into the finger he'd cut, feeling the blood oozing over his fingers. He was starting to hate himself... This body he had to inhabit. How he hated to be like the humans! There had to be a way to reverse the change... Had to be a way to become less like the humans and become more like his sisters... His glorious sisters, his glorious mother... Why had his mother made him like this? Damn her! Why did she... But she was dead, wasn't she? No use crying over it. He stumbled to the doorway between rooms, where the door hung broken, the lock unusable after the crash. He had to see for himself. He entered the doorway and into the darkness.  
  
Vash watched Knives disappear into the laboratory. Then his eyes focused on the plant behind the glass. Her words, feelings, emotions, came to him through the glass even without touching her. He closed his eyes thinking he'd block it out, but the feeling that passed over him was of overwhelming joy; someone had come to save her children. Vash's eyes opened and widened as he looked at her. This was new. "Children?" The word came to his lips unbidden, and his green eyes fell on the plant. "You have children?"  
Suddenly Vash was on his feet again, and his eyes scanned the base of the glass. Were there others like he and Knives? Had more plants been born? But even as he pressed up against the glass the feeling washed over him that the plant was speaking of a different kind of child. Sleeping children. Vash turned in the direction of the sleep chamber. There were sleepers here still? Alive? Could it be? But what would Knives do if there were?  
His feet couldn't move fast enough as he stumbled through the debris and remains of the ship. Even in the dark he knew the way, knew how to get where the sleepers were in the gigantic chamber... When he pressed against the glass that separated the viewing room from the Cold Sleep Chamber his breath froze in his throat. They were all here! All of them! "You're... Alive?" Vash dashed from the viewing room into the cold chamber, ignoring the sudden change from hot desert to the freezer. Goose bumps rose on his skin as he stumbled through the containers. All the readings were normal. They were all here... The little girl he and Knives watched... The crew... William Conrad... "Rem?" Vash ran down the line to where her pod was.  
It felt as if his heart stopped beating as he came upon Rem's pod. It was frozen over, ice coating the outside, and he pressed his hands against the ice. "Rem? Did you make it..." The ice melted under his hands and he hurried to clear it away... If she had enough time... Would she return? Did she survive too? How many years had he hoped to find her, hoped to know that she was okay... Somewhere out there, his mother, his only provider, the only person he'd ever loved besides his brother. As the ice melted away, his heart seemed to freeze instead. The pod was completely empty. Vash sunk to his knees. She didn't make it to the pods. She hadn't survived. The only one on the ship that hadn't... She gave her life to save all of these people... The only one... Tears rolled down his face again. And he knew it would be a long time before he could make them stop again.  
  
Knives pressed his hands on the cold empty glass. Their mother was gone. He closed his eyes and slumped to his knees. He'd been careless. The anger he felt toward Rem for hiding her away grew in him, spurned his hatred for the humans. When he and Vash found Tessla, it made him all that much more angry. He killed the humans, but in doing so, killed his sisters as well. It was foolish of him not to plan things out better.  
Now only one remained. She'd have to do, if only he could hear her voice! He let his fingers slip from the glass and he opened his eyes to look at the dust that remained there. Why was it that Vash could hear his sister and he could not? They were twins, so why did their powers come to them differently now that they were adults? He brushed the dust that mingled in the blood on his fingers off and climbed to his feet.  
Turning from the room, Knives went back into the larger chamber to find his brother missing. The plant returned in on herself and couldn't be seen behind the dark glass. He ignored her. If she didn't want to talk to him then he wouldn't talk to her! Frowning, Knives went to the only other place his brother ever had any interest in on the ship. The Cold Sleep Chamber was exactly as he remembered. Everything was precisely as they left it, except for a bit more dust in places and the occasional overflow from a sleep pod.  
He looked down from the observation room and saw his brother on the floor in tears. Knives sighed. When Vash wasn't thinking he was crying. He was growing tired of the never-ending cycle. Would he really be happier with these? Maybe... Knives shook his head; to allow Vash to go live with the humans was not an option. He hadn't seen Vash as happy as he was with those people... But to just let him go, let him forget everything that he was and everything he could be... Vash was special, and as his big brother, Knives would not forgive the humans that sought to use him for their own purposes. He was the only one who had any right to use Vash.  
If he spent enough time studying his sister in private, than perhaps he could find a way to be more like them. Once Vash was in full use of his powers, he doubted his brother would ever want to return to the humans. The key was Tessla, but that part of the ship was gone, Knives knew that the moment he saw what remained of the ship. Plants had a power-core, a 'seed' within them... But no one on this planet knew anything about the plants. They were worthless garbage, even these sleepers, if he couldn't use them to his advantage, then what was the point of their survival?  
Walking down into the cold chamber, Knives came to Vash and kneeled next to him. "Are you okay Vash?"  
His brother looked up at him with a tear-stained face and sniffed. "Yeah... I'm sorry Knives, I didn't mean to cry again." Vash wiped his eyes and started to get to his feet. "It's just that she really didn't make it. All of the others are here, but she didn't make it into a pod before the explosion." He stood and Knives followed him to look into the empty pod. Vash set his fingers on the glass again and wrote Rem's name in the frost before letting out a sigh. "So you saw..."  
"Yes, I saw." Knives said slowly, taking in the chamber around them and all of the sleeping people. "And these humans, even though they're asleep, they're using our sister. It's selfish of them." He turned, a plan forming. It would be simple to just turn off the power and let the humans rot in their glass coffins. "They have no right to live like this..." Then he and Vash could use the last remaining plant to...  
"You can't," Vash said beside him. "I know what you're thinking, Knives, but let's just leave them to sleep. Maybe someday there will be ships from Earth and they'll rescue these people and take them to a new home. They'll never have to know what happened!" He took Knives by the hand and dragged him through the room. Knives didn't try to stop him, curious of their destination, but realizing where they were going before they reached the sleeping girl they'd watched so many times in the past. "This girl... Do you remember her Knives? We always wanted to become friends with her, didn't we? Would you kill her just because she wanted..."  
"Shut up Vash!" Knives snapped, pulling away from the pod. The girl... He'd had a crush on her as a child, and to see her now, like this, peacefully the same, as she'd been a half-century before... How could she be so peaceful on his planet? Humans weren't welcome here; they were insects to be squashed below his feet... Knives swung back to the pod and started to press buttons. "Damn it," his eyes narrowed. "I don't care about them... I'll kill her now and prove it."  
"You don't? Really?" Vash grabbed Knives by the shoulders and forced him to look at the girl again. Knives was surprised at his brother's strength, at this moment, he couldn't turn away, his eyes locked on that sweet face, the dark locks of hair that fell around her eyes... She hadn't felt anything he had. She hadn't felt the pain, the suffering... This girl was still locked in a peaceful dream of a better tomorrow, and he couldn't look away from her, couldn't close his eyes to that little face...  
Knives shuttered, "Let me go Vash... They don't deserve to live, none of them."  
"I won't. Not until you promise me that you aren't going to hurt this girl or any of the others. We'll find another plant... Just leave this place alone. Let them sleep forever in this desert... A graveyard, think of it as that." Vash squeezed Knives' shoulders until they ached.  
"But they aren't dead Vash. She's alive, they all are. But our sisters are not. How can you justify it?"  
"You killed both," Vash hissed. "How can you justify that?" His fingers dug into Knives' arms. "Look at her and tell me that you never felt anything for her! You know her name... I'm sure you do, even after all of these years. Tell me you could just kill her for your own selfish purposes. She's done nothing, nothing. Tell me her name and tell me you'll kill her, but if you do... You'll have to wake her up and look her in the eyes to do it."  
Vash shoved Knives into the glass harder. When had his brother become this strong? Where was this fire before? When they fought the humans, why didn't he use this strength? No... Only now... He really cared for them, didn't he? Why did he care about her... This girl... Knives closed his eyes, not wanting to look at that lovely little girl... She was like... Like that other one... Knives frowned. No, he hadn't loved that girl, he had no feelings for her, and he would have killed her if Vash hadn't intervened. But this girl, the girl in the glass, he opened his eyes to look at her. "Marissa Gray," he whispered. Vash's grip loosened. "The little brat is Marissa..."  
His brother let go and Knives turned on him. "Now wake her up," Vash said, his eyes sad. "Press the rest of the buttons and wake her up before you kill her with that knife." He pointed at the keypad, urging him to do what he claimed he wanted to do. "Tell me you never once thought of a time where the two of you could be friends. Tell me that you could just kill her so easily."  
"I..." Knives growled and turned, punching the keypad. "I'm going to. I will kill her." The Cold Sleep pod stirred to life and both men looked at it, watching as the top opened. Steam rose around them as mechanical arms flared to life at the pod's sides. They held syringes, liquids to revive the sleeping dead. Knives watched the process in silence. Vash stood beside him, and for once Knives felt like... No, he would never be afraid of Vash. This... This wasn't his brother, this was someone else. Where had this change of character come from? How had he not noticed the change? Was it all of these months, even years that Vash had remained silent and thinking? Had he kept it hidden this entire time?  
Marissa's eyes fluttered open suddenly. Knives took in a shuddered breath. Her eyes were violet. There had been pictures of all of the sleepers, but he didn't realize her eyes could be so... He took a step back. "Hello," the little girl croaked out. Vash leaned forward and gave her a hand. She sat up slowly and shivered. "It's very cold in here."  
Vash nodded, "Yes, it is. But it is also very hot outside. Do you think you can walk?" Marissa looked from Vash to Knives. "Where are we? Are we at Second Earth?"  
"Gunsmoke," Knives grunted. Vash cast him a dark glance and he frowned. "It doesn't have another name." He extended a hand to the little girl and shuttered as she took his hand. The brothers pulled her up and out of the pod and onto the cold floor. She did a little dance before Vash picked her up in his arms. Knives couldn't look at her, only toward the door where they'd come in.  
Smiling, Vash said, "Let's get you out of here."  
"I... My name is Marissa," she said, shivering in his arms. "What's yours?"  
"Vash," his brother said, and then nodded over his shoulder, "and that's my brother..."  
"Millions," Knives growled as they walked out of the chamber and into the warmer interior of the ship.  
"Are you twins? You look alike."  
"Yes, we are," Vash responded. "Are you warmer now?"  
Marissa nodded, "Yes. You were right it is hot out here. But I like it." She pulled at his sleeve and he let her down onto the ground. Her bright eyes scanned the room, and slowly fell down the hallway to where the ship was broken open. "What... What happened?"  
"Let's go outside," Vash said slowly in response, taking her away from Knives into the sunlight. "There is something my brother wants to tell you." He cast a long angry glance over his shoulder to Knives. "Isn't that right?" Vash pushed Marissa down the hallway leaving Knives in the darkened hull, his fingers playing over the handle of the machete.  
When he was alone, Knives took the knife from his belt and looked at it. He could remember the feel of it cutting through flesh and bone... Wanted to feel this sensation again... It was power, and he was god of this planet. It was his decision for who lived and who died. With a nod, he followed his brother and the girl out into the sunshine. Marissa stood in awe of the planet, her mouth hanging open, violet eyes wide. "It's a desert! Wow, I've never seen a desert," she turned on Knives. Then her eyes fell on his machete and her little face squeezed into confusion. "What is that?"  
Looking at that face... Those eyes... Knives felt his fingers clutch the handle tightly. "A machete, have you ever seen one before?"  
Marissa shook her head slowly, "It looks like a big knife... What are you going to do with it?"  
Vash set a hand on her shoulder and looked at Knives, all the light had gone out of his eyes. A frown formed on his face, it wasn't his brother... Not the same Vash as before, this man, where had he come from? Vash was a coward, a weakling, but this Vash, he was strong, powerful. Knives could feel it in the air, a feeling hung between them; I will kill you with my bare hands if you so much as touch her.  
His fingers loosened around the knife as he looked from Vash to Marissa. They were both staring at him, those human eyes digging deep into his soul... No, killing someone like this... Before he never looked them in the eyes, before he didn't know as much... He knew Marissa from her files, what she was, who she was... Vash knew, didn't he? He knew I wouldn't be able to kill her like this... He... He couldn't. No... Why couldn't he do this? It should be easy. He'd done it so many times before, killed so many over these years, but this girl, this one little being... The knife dropped from his hand into the sand. "Nothing, I just found it a moment ago. I... We're going to have to get out of here and get you into town." He couldn't look at Vash, but his brother had a proud look on his face. Vash knew... Hadn't he? How had he known that he couldn't do this... Couldn't... Why couldn't he kill this girl? Knives turned his back on them. "We should go get our supplies..."  
"Stay here for a moment, Marissa," Vash said to the little girl. "Enjoy the sunshine. It gets cold at night so you need to conserve your heat. We'll be right back." He jogged over to Knives as they went back into the ship. "You can't do it can you? You can't kill her! I knew it..." Knives turned to face him with all the wrath he'd ever felt for the human race, but then his eyes caught sight of Marissa and he couldn't speak.  
After a time, he growled. "She's another damn pain in the ass, just like that other girl was. I shouldn't have woken her." Vash was smiling. Knives turned again to the ship. "It's going to take us over a week to get her to the town and another week to get back here..." His eyes narrowed, "No, we won't come back here. I don't want to see this place again." Vash was still smiling and Knives turned on him. "I only do this for you! This is the only favor that I'll do for you... But you'll have to do something for me in return." He pressed his hand into Vash's chest, "You can hear them. You heard our sister. There are others out in the desert, aren't there?"  
Slowly Vash nodded. "I'll take you to the others once the girl is safe."  
Knives turned, "Let's go then." He grunted, "Besides, I don't know if turning off the pods would wake them up anyway... I've seen it happen before and I don't want any more of that garbage walking around." He knew that Vash was smiling behind him even without seeing it. "And wipe that grin off your face. It looks stupid."  
"Thank you Knives," Vash replied.  
"Whatever." 


	2. A Hundred Bullets

Here's chapter 2! If you read Ch. 1 already, please go back and read it again – I had to do some serious editing so I hope you'll forgive me for changing it! I know you'll like it! grins More chapters to come!  
  
Chapter 2  
A Hundred Bullets  
Four Years Later  
  
It was dark beneath the thick glass. The round globe had a circumference of sixty feet, the glass three inches thick to hold in the precious cargo that dwelled there. For over fifty years that cargo remained buried on the dusty planet, silent, waiting, knowing that some day a rescuer might come to pull it out of the darkness. No one found this lonely being; the planet was too vast, the desert it landed in too dangerous to explore. The only creatures that could brave this place were its own kind; those they said 'lived outside of time.'  
"You think she's going to make it?" A voice said tentatively, as green eyes turned to an identical face. The twins found a new home. It took them many trips through the sandy desert to dig out this ship, unbury what time and wind had covered. It took four years to unbury this piece of history from the sand, fighting winds and typhoons and empty stomachs.  
"She's alive, you can feel it," Knives answered, bringing both hands to the glass, pressing his cheek against the cool smooth surface. "I can't believe our luck. Our sister was part of the advance party, I'd read about the smaller ships that came before ours, but I hadn't seen any sign of them until now." He closed his eyes and tapped a finger on the glass, making a small hollow thumping noise. "Would you like to come out and play?"  
"Knives..." Vash spoke, setting a hand on his brother's shoulder, "You still can't hear her can you?"  
Knives opened his eyes to reflect his brother's. His hair was lighter in color, shorter by choice, and he had a birthmark below his right eye. "Maybe not, but you can Vash. And now that we're with her, I'll learn to hear her again. It might take time, but I'll learn to hear her words."  
Vash took a step back, putting a hand through his yellow hair as it fell around his eyes. For the last year he had grown tired of looking like his brother, the tall upright hair, the clean-shaven face, and the tailored space suits. Vash looked down at his t-shirt and jeans and sighed. "I guess you will..." He frowned. Knives was staring at him with that cold expression he got whenever they talked about their siblings. To Knives, they were the only ones that needed to survive this desert planet.  
"You can feel her, even without touching the glass, can't you?" Knives closed his eyes again, his fingers playing against the surface of the globe. "But you can't go without eating... It's strange."  
"It's like we're part human..." Vash replied quietly, but not enough that Knives hadn't heard. Knives sneered, pulled away from the glass and punched his twin in the face. Vash reeled back and fell against the railing. He put a hand to his throbbing cheek and lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry Knives, I didn't mean to..."  
"Stop comparing us to them," Knives spit at him, rubbing his fist. He shook his head and returned to the glass, "I don't like to hurt you Vash, you know that right? But, sometimes you leave me no choice."  
Vash slid down to the metal catwalk and pulled his knees up to his chest. "I... I'm sorry." He rubbed his cheek again and with a sigh looked up at the huge plant before him. "I'll wake her up, just, give me a minute. I told you I would as long as you helped the girl... I know it's been awhile, but I found one for you just like I said I would. Didn't I?"  
He closed his eyes and concentrated. The tiny spark of life that breathed out from the glass surrounded him almost as if it were smoke. These creatures always annoyed Vash, their selfishness and sense of superiority, so much like his brother. These beings were not human; they had only vague human traits given to them by whatever created them. It was a cruel joke, Vash always thought, that he should come from something so unloving and yet feel love himself. Had humans created the plants in their own image to one day become like them? The religion on the planet told of a God who created the humans... Had man done the same thing? Did the humans ever consider that their creation could become just like them? Or even that they could be more powerful? He shuttered at the thought, Knives already thought they were superior. It made him sick.  
"Vash, you're trying my patience," Knives said from the globe. Vash looked up at him, Knives hadn't moved, but he'd been trying to wake the plant up himself for the last little while. All of the power to talk to these beings disappeared into the sands of time and for that Vash was glad. Unfortunately he suffered none of the same effects, and to that end Knives continued to use him.  
Getting to his feet again, Vash positioned himself next to his brother, mirroring him, hands against the glass. She was there, and she was awake. Wake up. Just two words, and warmth spread across the cool glass until it became light, and the plant within the globe started to glow internally. Knives laughed next to him, "Look at how beautiful she is."  
The creature formed from the inner core, angels and cherubs, feet and hands, little bodies and feathery wings. They formed a crazy mess, a tangle, but she had a main form, a main face, and it stared at them through pupil-less eyes. If man had not made these creatures, then they were plucked from the sky and jammed together in order to give off a heavenly light and power that was too terrible to comprehend. Vash pulled away from the glass and sat back down on the walkway. "Yeah, she's pretty," he said sarcastically. "Beauty from madness and oddity. But she's awake now. Can you hear her? She's saying hello."  
Knives nodded with a small, satisfied grunt, "She's quite powerful, not like the others..." Vash frowned and looked down to his hands. Why did he still have this gift and not his brother? What was it about him that was different? He'd have given anything to trade places with him, to be the one who could not hear the plants, who could not listen to this spoiled girl as she told Knives how much she hoped he would come. But even now he could hear his brother and sister conversing. It was the first time in years that they'd come in contact with a plant that was this strong. She'd been conserving her energy all of these years. Her power came over him and over Knives and he shivered.  
"She will help us in our task," Knives said finally, pulling away from his sister, his own skin glowing slightly from the contact. "It might take us time, but we have finally found a place to call home!" He walked past Vash and to the lab tables scattered around the area. "We'll get started immediately. Now that our sister is awake, I should be able to bring up the computers again." Knives stopped when his brother made no remark. "What's wrong Vash?"  
Vash got to his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'm worn out Knives. I think I'll go take a walk outside." He passed by Knives, never looking him in the eye, and went into the dark hallways leading to the surface. Knives didn't follow but got started on his mission, for whatever good it would do.  
The suns were still up, although low on the horizon, as Vash stepped out into the desert. The ship they'd found was small, only one plant nestled in the confines of its hull. Four years they worked to unbury this ancient wreck, four years of hard labor, but still, after only a half hour inside it, he missed the sunshine. Vash climbed the small hill the ship created when it crashed, and sat down to watch the suns set. Twenty years ago he and Knives passed this place, and he had avoided telling Knives that he felt one of their sisters. This time, he did not have the same option; Knives wouldn't let him forget his promise of four years ago.  
How many more years would this go on? Vash wondered to himself, eyes squinting against the sunlight. The humans were prospering now, cities were springing up around the larger ships, and anywhere a plant was found intact. He and Knives found many of these places, always careful to steer clear of them, avoid contact with the people. His brother despised them, day by day, but the same clear vision stayed with Knives: find a plant of their own and use it to destroy the humans. It was all he ever talked about, all he ever planned, for the last fifty years. The one idea grew into an obsession until Vash saw Knives changing into something not quite human any more. He was losing sight of sanity, and his brother enjoyed it.  
Knives became violent. Even to the point of hurting himself. Vash put his face in his hands and rubbed a gentle finger against where Knives hit him. It stung still, but only when he thought about it. They weren't human in this way either. Maybe humans could learn to block the feeling of pain, but he had to choose to feel the pain. Already he had scars down his arms and legs from days that Knives chose not to avoid the humans, and fight them instead. The newest scar was only from a few weeks ago, it remained a red streak against Vash's upper left arm. A bullet grazed him as he tried to pull Knives off of a man.  
Guns. Why they decided to create such monstrosities, Vash was unsure. He pulled up his sleeve and looked down at the red mark across his arm. At first they used weapons found in the ships, laser scopes and titanium bullets. But when the supplies ran out, the humans started fashioning older weapons, ones that did not need electric power, just gunpowder. For a time, Vash knew they created these guns in order to hunt the huge sandworms that lay beneath the surface of the sand. They battled the beasts and ate them. The guns were also used to capture the other various beasts roaming the planet.  
He had learned to use one not long after landing. He didn't grow proficient, nor had he wanted to after accidentally shooting a man... Vash closed his eyes, buried his head in his arms, no... He hadn't touched a gun since then. When man started to use guns against one another... He thought this place was supposed to be different; paradise... Paradise didn't have murderers... His most recent encounter with this was burned in his memory as vividly as the scar was against his pale skin.  
Knives thought it was fitting, mankind killing itself out. He talked about it often, and soon after the incident secured a gun for his own. The gun was of a basic design, room for six bullets and a wooden handle. Knives held it from time to time, studying its design, playing his fingers over the silver barrel. I'll make us better ones someday, he said. Vash had no doubt he would, but also doubted he would ever use one again. He didn't want to touch it. There was too much power in it. The destiny of a man could be ended with a single tiny pellet. Vash saw it happen right before his eyes as the bullet passed by his arm and into the man Knives fought.  
The man died in Knives' arms, while Vash clutched his arm, even as he did now, blood trickling down his skin. He shivered, thinking about it, and swallowed heavily. How much more could he take? Knives loved to feel the life drain out of the man as he died, and Vash could only think about how he could have been saved... They could have stopped the bleeding, sewn him up again and sent him on his way. But instead he bled to death, and the killer shot himself in the head. It all ended in a matter of seconds, and Vash saw it again every time he closed his eyes.  
"Vash!" His brother called, and Vash blinked, realizing the suns already set. How long was he out here? The moons were up already. Had he disappeared into his thoughts so far again? "Hey Vash, come back into the ship, I've made dinner."  
Vash rubbed his eyes and stood, walking down the hill to where Knives stood. "What are we having?"  
"Rations," Knives replied, looking at his brother curiously. "You've been out here for two hours, what were you doing?"  
With a shrug, he passed Knives into the ship, "Thinking."  
"Anything of use?" Knives fell into step behind him. "Probably not," he answered for himself, and put a hand on Vash's shoulder. "Are you still sore at me for hitting you?"  
"No," Vash replied, "Why would I be?"  
Knives squeezed his shoulder, "Good, then you'll be willing to help me get some of the files on the computers sorted out. Apparently our sister was created to power a small armament. Since it was an advanced ship..." He stopped talking as Vash turned to look at him.  
"Guns?"  
With a nod, Knives continued, "The advance ships... They were manned only during landing parties. But there is a whole arsenal here untouched by those filthy creatures." He pushed Vash into a walk again and pulled him into a room. "See?" The room was a twelve by twelve square, weapons hanging in displays that were flush with the walls. Dozens of guns, every kind imaginable. Knives pulled a case open and tossed Vash a long silver gun. It was an automatic, laser sight, stainless steel, black rubber grip. He looked at it disdainfully.  
"I don't know how to use it," he said, holding it out for Knives to take back. But his brother already had another one in his hand that was all black.  
"You'll learn," he said, examining the weapon. "Unfortunately they'll all have to be modified. The electricity to power these weapons will be hard to come by if we are away from this ship for any amount of time. It will probably be necessary to convert them to a more primitive weapon." He held up the gun, looking down the barrel and then his green eyes fell on Vash. "What's wrong?"  
Vash set the gun back into the case and stepped back. "I don't like them, Knives." He set his hand on his arm again and turned away.  
"Oh, that wound is still bugging you is it?" Knives set his own weapon away and shook his head. "You'll get over it. Learn how to fire one and you won't have to worry about being scared any more. They can't kill us."  
"I didn't say I was scared," Vash replied hastily, "I just said I didn't like them."  
"You will," Knives said. "I'll teach you."  
  
Two weeks. The suns rose and fell fourteen times and Knives locked himself away in the armory, as if it were a holy place. Vash sat outside in the shade of the ship, wondering what he was doing within that room. He didn't ponder it too long, brushing his hair out of his eyes, and wiping the dust from his brow. It was hot, very hot, more so than before. The positions of the suns made it late spring, if it had been Earth the trees would be in green now. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, and looked out over the desert. "Rem," he whispered silently, knowing that Knives would get angry if he said her name too loudly. "The geraniums would be blooming right now, wouldn't they? The red flowers of your home, they'd be brilliant in the sunshine. If you'd been here, there would be flowers everywhere... I'm sorry there weren't flowers for your grave." He sniffled, and the tears mingled with the dust and slid down his cheek.  
Vash closed his eyes, "Rem... Why couldn't you have saved yourself? Got to an escape ship? I know you wouldn't have thought to go to back to the sleep chamber..." The tears rolled down his cheeks unchecked. The sleepers survived. Except for the girl they all remained untouched within their pods, a single plant left to keep them running. He sobbed for a time, wishing he'd been stronger, so he could have stayed with Rem...  
Vash wiped the tears from his face and sniffled, "Rem... He didn't kill them. I would have left him then and there if he hadn't... But I saw something within him; he's still good, isn't he? If he allowed them to survive, then maybe there is still hope, right Rem?" He shook his head and dropped his hand to the rock beside him where a gun sat, glistening even in the shade. Knives wanted him to take it with him, to learn to use it until he grew proficient. Vash carried it around with him, but hadn't pulled the trigger yet, just set his hands on it until he grew accustomed to the weight.  
"This gun... If he doesn't let them live, I'll... I'll..." Vash picked it up and aimed it out into the desert. "I had hope after he let them survive, Rem. Especially Marissa. But now that he has found this place, found our sister, he might go back to the old ways of thinking. And if that happens... I'll stop him, it will be necessary, right Rem?" He looked down the gun barrel with one eye closed, looking at the target Knives placed over a week ago. It was pretty chewed up when Knives practiced, but the center of the target remained fairly untouched. Knives hadn't used guns very often until recently either. He never needed too... He had his knives, but he stopped using them after leaving his machete. Vash had no doubt he would go back to his knives someday...  
Standing now, Vash closed both eyes, thinking back to the way he had first learned how to shoot a gun. It had been a long time. Slowly opening one green-blue eye he looked down the barrel and his eye focused on the target. One squeeze of his finger and the bullet ripped through the far edge of the target, barely skimming it. "Damn," Vash sighed, looking at it, feeling disappointed. It wasn't like riding a bicycle... One had to practice to remain any good at it. Sure, he and Knives could learn computers in a matter of hours, but training the body to act as the mind, that was going to be difficult.  
He held the gun up again, fired again, and again, until all the bullets were spent. Only the first hit the target, the remainders spun off into the sand. Vash sunk back down on his rock and made to throw the offensive thing out into the sand when a hand appeared in front of his face. It held a long silver gun, much like the one Knives procured years ago, a six-shooter. It didn't have the laser sight as the one Vash held, no, this one was older. "Here, try this one," Knives said, bobbing it in front of Vash.  
Taking the new gun, Vash looked at it, feeling the weight in his hand. It was exactly the same weight as the gun he carried, but different. He looked up at Knives, "How does it fire? The barrel isn't in direct relation to the plunger... Does it even work?"  
"I modified it. You aim too high. You aimed too high back then too..." Vash knew he referred to the time he'd shot that man... It was on accident, he tried to shoot his leg, but hit his chest instead. Knives pointed toward the target again, "Aim it as you did just a moment ago."  
Vash stood reluctantly, but the feel of the gun in his hand, and the fact that Knives had probably seen him miss the target so many times, made him want to try it again. He'd do this, he'd promised Rem to take care of his brother, and he would, even if that meant someday killing him with this very gun. With a sigh, Vash raised the gun, aimed down the barrel. Knives snorted behind him, but didn't say anything. He squeezed the trigger and the bullet pierced through a lower level of the target. The positioning helped. Vash looked over his shoulder, "Look at that Knives!"  
"You hit it, but you still need more practice," Knives took a box from his pocket and tossed it to Vash. The twin caught it and looked at it curiously. "Once you can get an entire box of these through the center, then we'll talk." He walked back into the ship and out of sight.  
Standing in silence as his brother disappeared, Vash looked back down at the box. On the side was marked a quantity of a hundred. He looked back at the target. The bullet was still so far away from the center... Vash set the box down on the rock beside his other gun and aimed again. "A hundred bullets eh?" He nodded, "I'll do better than that..." He fired again, five more times, and the last one skimmed the center of the target. Vash smiled slightly to himself and grabbed the box of ammo. "I will stop him next time."  
  
"You're getting better," Knives said to Vash one afternoon as the smoke cleared. The new targets were chewed to pieces, bits of metal fell onto the ground. "I think you'll do just fine next trip." His gun was hot from firing, and he looked it over.  
Vash glanced over at Knives, holstering his gun once again. His hair was starting to fall from the upright spikes Knives made him form to keep it out of his eyes. Vash had a problem with it getting in his eyes, but he refused to admit it to Knives. He wiped the gunpowder from his face before running fingers up through his hair to straighten it. "Are we going somewhere?" They'd been practicing all morning and it was getting time for lunch, at least, that's what Vash's stomach told him. He was starting to consider whether to get pizza toast or donuts from the food replicator. Knives turned to look at his brother after another moment of examining his gun, wiping the powder from it with an oiled rag.  
"You are," came the reply.  
"What?" Vash watched as Knives lowered his gun, returning to his side. "I want you to go into town for more ammo."  
"By myself?" It was almost too good to be true, Knives suggesting he go on his own to see the humans! How wonderful! He was almost glowing inside, but he tried not to let it show, otherwise his brother might change his mind. "Of course I'll go, but I thought..."  
Knives shrugged, turning back into the ship. "I want to try other calibers. These are good but I think that a .45 might be better." Vash followed Knives through the ship and into the storage room, then through it to the laboratory where Knives and he worked. The laboratory was fairly sparse but for the plant in one corner, two desks, each with a computer, two chairs, and various other scientific instruments lying on shelves. For obvious reasons he didn't like to be in the room very often, but he had his own workspace when he wanted to be around Knives. The plant didn't move very much, although from time to time she'd animate enough to peer at them through the glass. Originally this ship was used only for a supply shed, for the most part, so there were only minimal things to survive here, but to Vash, it was better that they lived here than the other ship.  
Vash sat down at his desk and looked over at Knives. It didn't completely make sense that Knives would send him to buy bullets when he could just make them, but Vash knew better than open his mouth. As mellow as his brother was recently, time away from him would be good. Knives rummaged through a box on his desk, frowned and went over to the shelves. "I found something the other day I thought might come in handy."  
"More weapons?"  
Knives looked over his shoulder at Vash. "No. With as long as it's taken you to learn how to use your first weapon proficiently, another would not be very useful to you." He resumed his search and pulled out a small box. "It's quite clever."  
Head on his hand, Vash just watched him set the case down on the desk. "Well, whatever it is..." Knives opened the box and turned it around for Vash to see. He leaned over in his chair, and then stood, coming to the desk to get a better look. "What is it?"  
"A receiver."  
Vash tilted his head to the side, "Looks more like a pen to me." To illustrate, he picked it up out of the box and looked it over, pressed down the end and with a click, the pen came out. He smiled, "It is a pen." Vash grinned, looked down at the desk, flipped over a piece of paper and drew a smiling face with spiked hair, tongue sticking out and wrote the name "Knives" underneath it. Vash held it up to his brother, "Look, it's you!"  
Snatching the paper away, Knives moaned and tossed it to the side. He grabbed the pen out of Vash's head and clicked it shut. "It's a receiver and transmitter. Don't bust it."  
"What does it receive and transmit?"  
"Radio signals."  
"Oh."  
Knives was obviously not happy with Vash at the moment, and he took up the box in his hands and pulled up a false bottom. Looking over his brother's shoulder, Vash saw there were four metal hoops lying in the bottom. "And these?"  
"Same thing. They're used for communication."  
"Oh." Suddenly it became clear to Vash that Knives wasn't letting him go entirely on his own. If he had to have one of these transmitters on him, Knives could keep a track of him no matter where he went. The whole plan probably wasn't to go get ammo, but to test the range of these devices. And perhaps to get Vash off of his back too. Sure, he'd been a bit punchy lately, but they hadn't been around other people in so long that Vash was starting to grow incredibly bored. There was only so much he could look up on the computers; only so much solitaire one person could play... Especially when he could win every round. "So, how exactly do these things work?"  
Taking one of the hoops from the box, a silver one, Knives put it up to Vash's ear. "You listen with these, they transmit too, but the on and off controls are in the pen." To demonstrate, he clicked the pen again and spoke clearly into it. A tinny echo came from the small silver hoop. Vash grabbed at it, fumbled for a second, and then smiled, holding it again to his ear and walking to the other side of the room. He looked up at the plant. She was looking at him, wondering what he was doing. He ignored her, holding the ring to his ear. "Okay Knives, whisper something."  
"Vash get your ass back over here."  
"Oh! I can hear you, these are cool." Vash said, looking over at Knives. His brother wasn't smiling, just rolling his eyes. Vash's smile faded, he couldn't help but act a little bit excited with something new. He'd been stuck in the same place for almost two months now. Perhaps, someday, he'd get to roam the planet, go somewhere new, move around a bit and it wouldn't get quite so boring. After a moment, Vash lowered the hoop from his ear and looked at it. "So, how do these attach?" He slipped it on his finger and looked at it briefly. It reminded him of the ring that Rem had in a box on her nightstand. So many nights he'd find Rem sitting looking at it, talking to someone long dead.  
Slowly, Vash slipped it back off of his finger. It made him depressed to think of how sad Rem was when she lost someone she loved. His name was Alex, he could remember that much. He was pretty sure they were going to get married, but Alex was never able to give Rem the ring. She found it after his death and never wore it. Rem looked at it many times, telling Vash that if he ever found someone he loved, no matter how painful it was, to love her with all of his heart. Vash told Rem how much he loved her and she just laughed. Vash, you'll find someone else to love, you and Knives both. It will be a much different love than the one you have for me.  
Vash tried not to cry as he thought about it. The plant had pressed up against the bulb, she was trying to tell him something, and Vash looked up at her. What are you trying to say? He was concentrating so hard that he didn't notice Knives when he pulled out a third layer of the small box and came over to him with a tool in his hand. He tilted his head to the side curiously, Knives is doing what? And opened his mouth to speak when a horrible pain shot through Vash's earlobe and he screamed. He jumped back and looked at Knives, "What in the hell did you just do? Ow!!" Vash clutched his ear and found another one of the hoops attached to his ear now. His fingers came away bloody, but the pain soon receded. "I just asked how they attached not..."  
"You'll be able to take it out eventually," Knives replied slowly, wiping the remaining blood from Vash's ear. "But not right away. Otherwise it will get infected. But you won't want to get it too wet if at all possible." Knives licked the blood from his fingers and smiled.  
"Ow," Vash repeated, still tentatively running his fingers over his earring. He eyed the plant, sorry, guess you tried to warn me... His eyes fell on Knives. "Got me on a tight enough leash now?"  
Knives shrugged, "This will do for now." His eyes narrowed and he turned. "At least I'll know that you aren't fooling around with the humans. Go into town, get the supplies on this list," he handed Vash the piece of paper he'd drawn on earlier; on the opposite side was Knives' list. "Keep your mouth shut or I'll have to come after you, and I will use whatever means necessary to retrieve you."  
Vash frowned, looking down at the list and sighed. "Okay Knives. Whatever you say." He slumped out of the laboratory and through the ship to his bedroom. Without a word he packed a bag, went to the galley to retrieve food, and passed by Knives on his way out. "Anything else?"  
"Don't talk to yourself," Knives replied. "It's annoying."  
Don't talk to yourself, it's annoying, Vash repeated inside of his head. He could hear his sister chuckle and Knives' frown deepened. Waving fingers at his brother, he stepped into the desert and away. "It's not that I talk to myself out loud that much," he mumbled.  
"Yes you do," rang a tinny reply from his ear. Vash made the rest of the trip in almost intolerable silence. 


	3. Typhoon

Chapter 3  
_Typhoon_  
  
_ Two Years Later_  
  
Time passed quickly in the desert. The rotation of the planet was similar to Earth, taking about twenty-four hours, but there were no true seasons because of the multiple suns. There was spring and summer, hot and hotter, and the nights were very cold no matter what time of the year it was. The months passed by with the phases of the moons, and if there'd been scientists, they'd probably be curious how oceans would have reacted to the shifting of so many satellites. There were already constant typhoons that passed over the landscape, raging winds powerful enough to strip a man's skin from his body. Had there been water, perhaps it would have caused terrible tsunamis. No one thought about that as they prayed for water, wished there had been at least one ocean on this lonely planet.  
Vash's hair was growing long and there was nothing that Knives could do about it. He looked up from his seat in the laboratory at his shaggy brother and looked over at the pair of scissors sitting up neatly in its container. They'd had short hair since they were babies, and his own stuck up everywhere naturally, which was something that Knives later found out wasn't natural for a human. Vash's hair seemed to relate directly to his mood. He was depressed a lot lately, a lazy beard, and dirty hair. His brother took to wandering the ship now, gun hanging at his side, from time to time sitting at the computer and tapping at it, then going off again until it was time for dinner. Now that they'd run out of food, some nights he didn't come back at all.  
Today he sat at the computer, idly tapping at keys, his green eyes focused on something mildly interesting, at least enough so that he hadn't moved from the spot for a few hours. Knives sat quietly piecing together a new control valve for his sister. He was able to switch the flow of electricity to encompass the ship and his lab, but the switch took the power away from basic living functions. The food processors sat empty and quiet for almost a month now, and the sound of his brother's stomach rumbling prompted Knives to fix the problem.  
About the same time everyday, Vash would come into the laboratory, almost as if he were a dog waiting to be fed. He'd sit down at the computer and his stomach would make such an audible noise that Knives couldn't concentrate. As it was, his own stomach was starting to have sympathy pains; it had been even longer since he'd eaten. He didn't want to believe he was hungry. Not after all this time, he only ate because Vash did, not that he needed it, that's what he kept telling himself. Now he was starting to reassess their power, maybe they needed food just as the plants needed a boost of power from time to time. Knives sighed and soldered the last pieces of the valve together.  
Vash turned slowly on his chair and his eyes fell on Knives for only a moment. His brother looked up from the valve and for a second he could see that Vash had given up on being fed for another day. His stomach made one last complaint, and in a horrifying response, Knives' did too. It complained so loudly that the corner of Vash's lips curled upward until his teeth were showing. "I knew it..." he started. "You're hungry too."  
Knives looked down at his work again, frown creasing his brow. "It's nothing. I'm working on getting the food processor back up."  
Two hands fell on his desk, and Knives looked up into his brother's face. He was still smiling, "So when is it going to be operational again?"  
Suddenly Knives wanted to wipe that smile off of Vash's face with his fist. They'd gotten along fine all of these years when Vash remained silent and obedient, but there were times, times like these, that Knives knew somewhere deep inside of the man lay strength to stand up to him. He'd fight back one of these days, turn against him like he did a few years back, and it scared him that he might lose Vash to the humans. Knives moaned inwardly, he didn't want to believe he'd lose his brother to those insects. "A week, maybe two," he answered finally. "I used to many of its parts in other things, and I've used up nearly all of the rest of the ship that wasn't necessary for our survival. I'm gong to have to see what other functions are not mandatory for what I need before I can get it all back together again."  
"In other words, you need supplies," Vash received a reluctant nod from Knives. "If it's going to take two weeks, then I'm going into town." He turned on his heal and started toward the doorway. Knives stood, a bit too abruptly, knocked over the soldering iron and scrambled to right it again. Vash turned with a sly grin on his face and he watched in utter curiosity. "Having problems?"  
Knives looked up at Vash, infuriated. "Yes! Yes I'm having problems." He shoved away from the desk and his hands curled into fists. "You are not going into town. Not after last time." His stomach growled louder and for the first time, Knives felt hungry, genuinely hungry, so much so that it was debilitating. He felt clumsy, and it was not something he was proud of at all. It made him feel less like a plant, weaker and weaker until he couldn't even think straight.  
"And you're going to stop me, I suppose?" Vash's eyes grew a shade darker, as if he were remembering something, then they snapped up again, "I'm not going to let you bully me anymore Knives. You have your electric leash, isn't that enough? I'm tired of if here, I need to eat and I need to see people, because I'm just not like you..." His hands were in his pockets, but Knives could see they too were balled into fists. Vash would be ready to fight him back this time if he chose to go that route. Before it had been simple to beat his brother down, Vash never fought back, never complained, just fell into tears. But with his body acting this way...  
"I'll go with you," Knives said slowly. If anything he could keep the visit short, get into the town and get out again without any undue attention. "I'm not going to let you go alone."  
Vash laughed, "I'm a big boy now Knives, I can do it by myself." He raised his hand out of his pocket, "Want me to count off how old I am in human years? We've been on this planet for fifty-two years now..." His eyes fell on Knives' eyes, and although he hadn't meant to show his emotions, there were too many to hide. "You're worried I won't come back."  
"I'm worried the humans will brainwash you and stick you into a glass globe," Knives spat. "Just like they nearly did the last time."  
"No," Vash countered, "The last time they held a party for me since I was able to save the town from bandits. You called me away before I even try my first beer..." He held up a hand, "I know what you said before, you don't know what affect alcohol might have on us, but I thought it would have been interesting to test it." Vash's smile returned, "I saw Marissa then too. Didn't get to talk to her, but you know, she should be about eighteen now I suppose."  
Knives growled, "Don't talk about her."  
"Why not?" Vash was pushing it. Knives could tell he was trying to push the right buttons and get him to snap again. If he snapped they'd be at each other's throats. This time he was ready, this time Vash would fight back, and this was the first time Knives felt reluctant to do it. Vash was stronger, he knew that already. "Come on Knives, aren't you even a bit curious about how she's getting along? She really took a liking to you; everyone in town saw it. They wanted to know why we hadn't adopted her, instead of leaving her in that city."  
Without a word, Knives returned to his desk and turned off the soldering iron and the lamp. "I'm going with you. We're going to town for food and some supplies and then we're coming back." He passed Vash, and pressed the key on the sliding door. It whooshed open and hot air greeted him as he went into the hall. This would not do, would not do at all. He'd grown soft, even as he planned to kill off the human race, he still thought about that girl. That damn girl with her bright violet eyes, a color he'd never once seen on another human being. Why did she have to be as perfect as he'd always dreamed she would be? How often had he wished that he could have woken her on the ship all of those years ago... Ugh, no. She's a human! An insect, like all the rest of them. I'm forgetting just how much they're like garbage since I haven't been around them in so long... If anything this trip will help to remind me.  
  
Over half a week into the trip and the desert wasn't silent any more. Knives frowned. Too many times now his face formed into the familiar scowl so that it had started to bug Vash. "Rem would say your face would stick that way..." Knives glared at Vash but his brother merely shrugged. "I'm thinking it's already stuck. Can you even smile anymore?"  
"No," Knives said, pointing out into the desert. "Besides, there's a storm coming."  
Vash's eyes widened, "A storm? Guess I couldn't hear it over my stomach."  
"Typhoon I'd imagine," came the reply. Sure enough, it was coming closer, the winds picked up in the desert, throwing sand and gravel into the air. It was a great storm of dirt, pounding rocks like hail, winds stirring up clouds into the atmosphere. They looked like gigantic mountains arising in the distance.  
Knives squinted in the sunshine, holding a hand over his face, "It will be here in a few minutes," he said, looking over at his brother. Vash stood the same as he did, shielding eyes and fingers twitching nervously.  
"Is there somewhere we can go?"  
"No," Knives sat down on a rock and crossed his arms over his chest. "We'll just wait here as it passes."  
"But Knives..."  
Calm eyes lifted to look at his brother. "Are you worried we might die, Vash?"  
Vash looked down at Knives and with a frown crossing his features, he sat down as well. "No." The winds ripped through their hair and clothing. Sand and stones pounding at every inch of their bodies as the typhoon slammed into them. Knives laughed into the storm as Vash fell backwards, covering his face with his hands, crouching down behind the stone where Knives remained.  
This was their home. This would become paradise. Human beings could not survive, but they could. Even as his clothes ripped and his cheeks stained with blood, Knives laughed. They would survive and become masters of this place. This was his, and he would stop anyone that got in his way.  
When the storm finally passed, Knives felt better, much better than he had in quite some time. He turned around on the stone and peered at Vash. His brother was half buried in sand and bleeding as well. The smell was not unpleasant to Knives' nose, and he bent to pull his brother from the sand. "Are you okay, Vash?"  
Eyes fluttered open and then closed again, and Vash grunted softly. Knives let go of his arm, climbed off the rock and pulled Vash completely out of the sand. His brother slouched down into Knives' arms and was just barely breathing. "Vash... Quit fooling around," he grumbled, letting Vash go to topple back over in the sand. "Dammit, you aren't are you?" Falling to his knees, he looked over the wounds that covered Vash's body; he was bleeding more than it first appeared. Between his hunger and the loss of blood, Vash was...  
"Vash!" Knives heaved Vash to his shoulder. They hadn't brought anything with them; there hadn't been any need to, no food to pack, no clothing, no supplies. They were plants, right? They weren't human, didn't need the same supplies... Now Knives was cursing his thoughtlessness. He could have brought bandages or something along in case they ran into a sand worm... They were too far away from the ship. Now they had to continue forward, to the town, but Vash...  
His footsteps fell heavily with the additional weight of his brother over his shoulder. He was still breathing, just barely, and any bit of life in him gave Knives the urge to keep moving. "Don't worry Vash..." The sand was so hard to walk in, his feet slid deep into it, made it as hard to walk through as mud, harder even, as he tried to climb the hills, sliding down, losing his grip on his brother. They'd slide down a hill, Vash rolling into a pile of sand at the bottom, and Knives would go back for him, pick him up and try the climb again. For two days, Knives didn't stop, knew he couldn't chance it. His own stomach rumbled in the still air, and he cursed his body again, just as he had so many other times. He cursed Vash for being so much weaker... "Vash... Wake up."  
But his brother's green eyes never flared open, even as the sand turned to stone, and a city stretched below him. It was bigger than before. He wasn't even sure what the name of the town was, although now there were sidewalks and vehicles coming and going. A caravan camped to one side of the town, large trucks, smaller cars, and people everywhere. Knives readjusted Vash on his shoulder, "Vash wake up, look where we are." Still no movement, even as he walked down to the town. I know I'm not going to enjoy this. But it's for Vash... I must control my temper until he's well again, just as before.  
"Hey! Is he okay?" A voice floated from a house at the outskirts. Knives looked over at a young man who came down the porch steps, "Do you need a doctor?" The man rushed over, looking over the twins. Knives made note of how his eyes fell not only on Vash but on him as well. He probably didn't look much better, the typhoon had ripped as his face and clothing. Knives didn't even consider the fact his appearance was probably that of the walking dead to this human.  
"My brother does," he answered reluctantly. What was he expecting anyway? Free access to first aid supplies without the humans' interference? He cursed himself again, of course they'd want a hand in it, and he wouldn't be able to argue. "I'm fine, but..."  
The young man turned and yelled into the house, "Stephanie call your brother out back, we're going to need to get this guy to the doctor!" A young woman's head appeared from the doorway, and then disappeared again. Moments later she and a man her own age came running out.  
"Good grief man, what happened?" The two men relieved Knives of Vash, and carried him to the front porch. Stephanie was already on her way down the street to get the doctor. Knives, feeling the lessened weight on his shoulder sagged. He hurt more than he first thought. He was healing much slower than before; probably do to the lack of food. But without Vash being awake to see it, he didn't really care. He was too weak to argue with anyone about his condition.  
"Typhoon," Knives responded slowly as he slumped down onto the porch next to Vash. His brother's breathing was still shallow and his cuts still were not healing either. "We... Lost our car in it, our supplies..." His brain was foggy, was this how humans acted around each other? The lie would work right? He just wasn't sure. A smell wafted out from the house and his stomach growled. Knives set a hand down on it, food. That's what that smell was. The human woman must have been cooking something. It smelled... wonderful.  
The first young man, Michael, Knives soon found out from the other man's chatter, walked up the steps. "Doctor Neiman should be here in a minute, sounds like you could use something to eat..." He disappeared into the house and the other young man fussed over Vash's head, looking at the cuts and scratches.  
"Don't touch him," Knives spat, and the young man scooted back.  
"Oh, I'm sorry... Just, I've never seen anyone so torn up before. He's got a lot of scars. You been in a typhoon before?" The man was looking at Vash's arm where the bullet passed through. Every scar showed up on his light skin. Knives sighed. He should have made Vash wear something more appropriate for the weather, but hadn't thought of that either. He still wore human clothing; short sleeves and what was left of it didn't do much to cover up his brother's appearance.  
"Yeah, you could say that," Knives replied slowly. His eyes turned to see Stephanie and the doctor coming down the road at a good clip. The doctor rushed up the stairs and set his bag down nearby. He pulled out a stethoscope and listened to Vash's chest before looking up at Knives. "What do you think?"  
Dr. Neiman clicked his tongue, "You're both in pretty bad shape but I'll see what I can do. We need to get him to the hospital. Hey Frank, get your car." Stephanie's brother jumped up from the porch and ran around the back to do as ordered. Neiman grabbed Vash under the shoulders and Knives started to help when the doctor snapped, "Oh no you don't. You're not in any condition, Michael, grab his feet." The other man set down the sandwiches he'd made and did as told. They brought Vash down and set him in the car that Frank brought around. Knives looked at the food wearily but knew there was no time to stop for a snack. He followed the others down the stairs.  
Knives sat down next to Frank, the other two men and his brother in the backseat. The car sped down the road to the hospital. It was a squat building painted all white with a red cross over the door. Otherwise it wasn't very impressive. Apparently the town was small enough not to need a very large hospital. A young woman ran out of the building wearing all white and grabbed his arm. Knives didn't look at her as she guided him out of the car and into the building. His attention was on Vash as another crew of nurses came out with a gurney to bring his brother in as well. "Hey, be careful with him!" He said, feeling helpless. This is a first, he thought to himself, but the last time he'd felt like this was... Was when the plants started to scream that one night. Knives knew at this moment there was nothing to be done. He couldn't very well pull out his gun and start shooting people; it wouldn't help Vash get better any faster.  
"Don't worry about him, he's your brother right?" The nurse at his side said, and Knives nodded slowly. "Must be twins, I can see the resemblance," she continued. "Anyway, Dr. Neiman is the best we've got here in New San Diego. Don't worry a bit. What we need to concentrate on is getting your own wounds taken care of." Knives sighed, pulling his eyes away from Vash to look at the nurse by his side and his breathing stopped. He collapsed right then and there, unable to control his own legs anymore. He cursed inwardly, even as he stared up at her frightened face, and saw how her violet eyes contorted with determination to pull him up again. "You okay?"  
"Marissa..." Knives sputtered.  
She nodded, "Do I know you?" Her face was still set into that determined smile as she hauled him again to his feet. "You okay? Think you can stand on your own?"  
"Yes, sure," he responded, but at this minute he wasn't so sure. It was her. Indeed, she was about eighteen as Vash said, and here she was, in the hospital, clinging onto his arm, looking up at him with those violet eyes, the ones he couldn't stand to see again... Hoped he'd never see again... Knives wrenched free of her grasp. "What do you want?"  
"I want to help you, obviously," Marissa pointed down the hall, "There's an empty examining room to the left, I'll get bandages. Think you can make it?" Knives lurched into movement and went down into the empty room, all along shaking his head and cursing the foul luck that brought him here, to her, exactly the person he didn't want to see during this little trip. She wasn't a girl anymore, she was big... She... Oh no, they're all just garbage, even her...I'm just hungry, that's it... Weak. Once I eat again my head will clear from these foolish thoughts!  
He clutched his head, wondering nominally about how Vash was doing, more so about the fact that he was acting more human at this moment in his life than he ever had. Knives wanted to rip out his own hair, tear out his eyes or something... He glanced around the room, trying to figure out whether he'd be able to do something to himself without having the girl walk back in on him... "Here we are," she said, smiling again, a tray in her hands covered in bandages, antiseptic and clean towels. "I'll get you fixed up in a jiffy, Mr....?"  
"Knives..." He sputtered, and then stopped as Marissa looked at him funny. He'd said it more like a question, still looking for something sharp to kill himself with. Stupid foul human... "Millions," he said after a moment, correcting himself.  
"Millions..." Marissa trailed off with the word still on her lips. "I've heard that name before somewhere, it's been awhile though, I think..." She set one of the towels into a bowl of warm water and started to wipe his face. Knives tried not to look at her. This was disgusting. A human touching him, especially this one... Her face was thoughtful as she blotted his forehead. "I knew a Millions once. Nice guy... Had a brother..." Finally her eyes opened wide and she pulled her hand away from him. "You!"  
Knives looked away, frowning. She put her hands on his shoulders and moved her head to look in his face. "Hey, don't," Knives spat, but she didn't let him go.  
"It is you. You don't look any different... So that's... What was his name again, Vash? Yes, I seem to recall. How could I forget those weird eyes of yours?"  
"My eyes aren't weird, yours are," Knives replied. He sneered, "What color is that anyway, they look like two big bruises..."  
Marissa laughed, "Violet I'll have you know." She resumed cleaning his face. "I haven't seen you in so long... I really thought you'd never come back." Knives looked at her, his chest tightened and he suddenly wanted to lie down. He snatched the towel from her and threw it in the bowl of water.  
"Stop touching me. I didn't want to come back to this town." Knives growled. "But Vash..."  
She nodded slowly, "I saw him. What were you doing? Trying to get yourselves killed?" Marissa came at him with a swab, and started to blot his scratches with alcohol. Knives hissed at her and reached for her arm, but she dodged. "Stop that! Let me clean them." He started to stand but she went after his face again. Knives leaned back, but she grabbed his face and sneered, "Hold still you big baby." She finished with his face and smeared the ointment onto his wounds. "There, they weren't really all that bad. Shouldn't even scar. You were lucky to survive something like that."  
"Lucky, humph," came Knives' response. He avoided looking at the girl's face. How'd she get so... "Where's Vash, I need to see him."  
"Not yet, the doctor is looking him over," Marissa said, she had a firm hold on Knives' arm as he tried to stand. She wasn't very strong, and under normal circumstances he could have broken her in half with his own two hands. But he felt weak and couldn't bring himself to harm her, not with Vash still lying unconscious... "You must be starved," she continued after a moment once Knives relaxed again. "If you promise to stay here I'll get you something to eat."  
He nodded and Marissa let go of his arm. "Okay, sit tight." She left the room and Knives sighed. I will not come to depend on these humans, but if I don't play along...  
  
A few hours later, Knives sat at Vash's bedside. A tray of uneaten food sat next to the bedside, and Knives looked at it wearily. Vash hadn't woken up. Doctor Neiman's examination determined Vash to be starved, very dehydrated, and after the typhoon, he was amazed that either twin was still alive. Vash was hooked up to an IV, sleeping peacefully in bed. Knives never saw his brother so sickly before. He was skinny and frail, and it scared him. What would he do if he were to lose Vash? They'd been together for so long... No, plants can't die, he told himself. "They just can't," he reaffirmed it out loud, placing a hand on Vash's forehead. "You can't."  
"Are you okay, Millions?" Marissa said, coming into the room as quietly. Knives turned to look at her. She changed out of her nursing uniform, and now wore jeans and a blouse. He turned away, disgusted. What intrigued her so much that she would come to look in after them? She owed them nothing.  
"I'm fine."  
"Well, my shift is over now," she said slowly, coming to stand beside the bed. "Dr. Neiman said he'd probably be out for another day at least. You should probably get some sleep, they'll bring in a cot for you shortly, I know you'll want to stay with him tonight." Marissa set a hand down on Vash's wrist, checking his pulse, and then when she was satisfied, she turned. Hesitated. Knives could feel the tension in the air and wished she'd just leave them alone. "I..."  
Knives didn't look at her; he knew what she wanted to know. She wanted to know why he hadn't stayed, why they'd left her here in this town, why he hadn't changed... The questions hung in the air like smoke. He didn't look at her. Even after a full stomach, he still felt weak, more so now that his brother lay unconscious, unable to help him, knowing he couldn't take out his wrath on the only ones who could help him. He was a lion with a thorn in his paw, and this woman, she was the mouse who could remove it. There'd be no eating this mouse as long as they remained here. "What do you want?" He asked quietly, "I know there's something you want to ask me, so you'd better just spit it out and be done with it."  
Marissa shifted in her spot, and Knives turned to look at her. She bit her lip; "I just thought that maybe you would like to go to desert with me. I just thought that... It would be something to get your mind off of Vash's condition." She waved a hand at the sleeping man, "He won't be going anywhere, and I won't keep you more than a half hour."  
"I don't think..."  
"Come on, you owe me," she said suddenly, throwing a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she mumbled through her fingers. "I... Please, just come with me and I won't ask you for anything else."  
"Is that a promise?" She nodded. Knives stood. "Fine. I'll come with you. But no questions."  
She smiled faintly, "No questions." Then she turned and started out of the door, "There's a very nice little diner just around the corner. They have the best pies... Apple is my favorite."  
"Apple..." Knives thought about it for a moment. Vash always liked donuts. But he never acquired his own 'favorite' food. It was merely a way to survive, but apparently all humans must have had a favorite of some sort. He filed away the information before saying, "I've never had pie."  
"Well then," Marissa said as they walked down the hallway. "It'll be my treat."  
  
Vash opened his eyes and watched Knives disappear with Marissa. A smile spread across his lips. He turned on his side and propped his head up with a hand. Well, what do you know, Knives found a friend. Vash grinned to himself, and finally pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked down at the tray of food next to the bed. Hospital food, yuck. It was better than nothing however, and he set the tray over onto his lap and dug into the cold potatoes and the melted gelatin. Might not be very tasty, but it was food, and Vash savored every bite. "Ah!! I'm alive again!" He said it quietly, trying not to alert the hospital staff that he was actually awake.  
When he finished the tray and set it to the side again, he lay back onto the pillow, staring at the stark white ceiling. It was kind of a cruel thing to do to Knives, he thought briefly. It's not as if he planned the typhoon, but it worked to his advantage. No more walking, and even though it hurt like the dickens when Knives dropped him during the walk, he managed to stay 'unconscious'. He wondered for years what Knives would do if something happened to him. Would he be able to go on or would he be just as miserable as Vash knew he'd be alone? Apparently Knives cared about him, enough to go to the humans for help, enough to actually be peaceful with them long enough for his brother to get better.  
Knives did the same thing before so the plan worked out nicely. Took him months to wait for Knives to weaken, knowing he would need to come back to town eventually. He smiled to himself, I'm a genius.  
"What... What are you doing awake? How?" Dr. Neiman stood in the doorway, his mouth dropped open. The bandages and ointment he carried dropped to the floor as he stared. Uh oh, Vash thought, busted.  
He looked around, playing innocent, "Oh, I uh... I smelled the food and..." he nodded to the empty tray. "I'm mighty sleepy now though..." He closed his eyes, hoping that the old man would go away. If he got too excited, someone would probably run out to get Knives, and Vash couldn't have that at all. He acted asleep again, hoping that the doctor would fall for it, but doubting that he would, and sure enough Neiman was at his eyelids with a little penlight.  
"How are you feeling? Do you know where you are? Remember who you are? I'm Dr. Neiman and I've been taking care of you... Maybe I should get your brother..." He rambled on before turning, and Vash reached out an arm and grabbed the back of his lab coat.  
"No..." The old doctor closed his mouth. Vash continued, "Don't tell him. He needs to spend some time with Marissa," he said slowly, trying to figure out whether he should tell the doctor his plan or make something up. Rem always told him to tell the truth, so he continued, "We dropped her off in this town quite a few years ago, and I wanted him to see her again."  
Dr. Neiman turned and Vash let go of his coat. "I thought you were familiar," he said slowly. "Six years ago you dropped her off at my doorstep. Both of you." He looked over his bifocals at Vash. "You haven't aged. What are you?"  
"It doesn't matter." The doctor's brows furrowed, but Vash continued. "I'm glad that you've taken care of her, she's really grown up."  
"She's smart," the doctor said slowly. "At first I wasn't sure how smart she was, but within a year she was helping me here in the hospital. Within two she could do a difficult operation on her own. I didn't believe it, but I wasn't going to ignore it. Is she like you?"  
Vash shook his head, "No. She came from the SEEDS ship that is out in the middle of sandworm territory. It was the lead ship. I'm told only the smartest people were aboard." He looked at the doctor's surprised expression.  
"Marissa was an Earthling?"  
A smile spread over Vash's lips, what an odd expression this man used. "You were one too, if I'm not wrong about your age..." The doctor nodded.  
"Yes, I was about ten when the ships crashed. I knew about the lead ship. How is it that she's alive? All of this time, she must have been in cryo-sleep."  
This conversation was getting interesting Vash realized. It was nice to be around humans again. They were so unpredictable. This doctor in particular remembered the crash, and it didn't make Vash feel quite so old anymore, or quite so alone. Here was someone who knew what it was like to be on Earth! The same planet where Rem grew up, where Rem lost her husband... A place that a few still hoped existed, somewhere out there, light-years away. He wondered idly if he'd ever be able to see it, especially if he were as immortal as Knives always predicted they would be. "She was," he answered after a moment. "We were lost in the desert, found the ship and managed to wake her. The others..." he trailed off, should he tell Neiman about the rest? "There was no one else."  
"I'm sorry to hear that," Neiman said. "It's just lucky that you were able to bring her here. I don't know what I would have done without her. I love her like my own daughter."  
"That's how it should be," Vash said after a moment. "Unfortunately, if you remember, we couldn't take care of her. We've been looking for our family for a long time."  
"Did you find them?"  
Vash nodded slowly, "In a matter of speaking, yes."  
"Then let's celebrate," Dr. Neiman stood. He smiled down at Vash and a mischievous look crossed his face. "I have a bottle of brandy in my office."  
Without Knives around to complain... "I'd like that!" Vash grinned.  
"Good, let me go get my secret stash," the doctor winked and disappeared. Vash watched after him. This plan went over much better than even he'd first expected. It was going to be a nice night... As long as nothing goes wrong, he thought. Knock on wood. 


	4. Human Weaknesses

Chapter 4  
_ Human Weaknesses  
_  
Knives watched Marissa eat. She was a very tidy human. They were normally very sloppy creatures, making the act of eating into something like bathing. But this one took a bite of her food, a sip of her water, blotted her mouth, and then repeated the steps. His own pie sat in front of him still, untouched. "You don't want it?" The girl asked finally, her eyes falling on his plate and then up to him. "I thought you..."  
"I'll eat it," he replied hastily. "I was just watching you."  
Marissa quirked a smile, "Dad... I mean, Dr. Neiman says I'm the most proper eater of anyone he's ever met. Guess I must have done it as a child growing up. Although I really don't remember much of anything before you and Vash found me." She closed her mouth, "Oh, I'm sorry, we weren't supposed to talk about that were we?"  
With a shake of his head, Knives picked up his fork, "It wasn't a question." He took a bite of his apple pie and rolled it around in his mouth. It wasn't unpleasant. Perhaps he could get the food replicator to produce a similar substance. "You may continue talking," Knives said. He felt out of place with this human, even though he noticed Marissa didn't act as if the situation were awkward.  
"Well, I guess it's not important how I eat," she said quietly, sipping her water, out of order this time. "I just wanted to thank you I guess, for saving me. I've had time to think about it since then, the whole thing was such a blur to me. I must have slept a lot because I remember waking up and walking out in the sun, but nothing again until I was here in this town. I missed you terribly when you left." She flushed and stuck a huge piece of pie into her mouth, effectively stopping the chatter. Apparently she hadn't wanted to reveal that tidbit to him, Knives realized. These humans... They were very predictable in some ways. Next she would change the subject, but he wanted to test the theory.  
"We couldn't take you with us," he said after a moment. A thought hit him, and it soothed his mind. Know thine enemy. "Your kind is weak."  
Marissa sat in silence, her pie finished, her water gone, until the waitress came back to fill up her glass again, but she couldn't speak for a long while. Knives felt that the silence was comfortable, and he was able to finish his own dessert with relative ease. It allowed him a chance to think, to ponder on just how much he should learn of humans before it was enough to properly destroy them. They had weaknesses, not just physical ones but mental as well. It would be interesting to experiment, but then again... There really wasn't time for it. He wanted to get what they needed, get Vash and get out of the town. Sooner he got away from this girl the better. She had an odd effect on him, and he was starting to think it wasn't such a good idea to find out what it was exactly.  
"I guess if you want to go back to the hospital..." Marissa started. Change of subject, Knives thought. She fumbled with her purse and pulled out some currency, setting it on the table. "I won't keep you any longer. Thanks for coming along." She kept her eyes down at the table. What was bothering her now? The fact that she'd blurted out something she hadn't wanted to? Without thinking, he reached over the table and lifted her chin so that their eyes met.  
"What's wrong." It wasn't a question, he simply wanted to know. "You changed the subject."  
"Well... I..." Marissa stammered, and faltered, hands shaking, "I've been thinking about what I would say to you for the last six years, and it just occurred to me that I'd built up this image of you... Yet here you are, exactly like I imagined, exactly like I remembered... And I said what I wanted to say, but I didn't get the response I'd hoped to hear." She fumbled to a stop and Knives let loose her face.  
"What did you want to hear?"  
Marissa flushed pink. Knives found this utterly curious. He'd read about the female species blushing, that blood flowed to their cheeks and caused them to turn red. But he'd never read about why it happened, and he filed it away as something he didn't think he should know about humans. The girl was clutching her purse now and her knuckles were white, she'd gone back to staring at the table. "That... That maybe you'd come back for me."  
"Why would I do that?"  
"Because..." She looked at him now. His features did not change. The same determination from earlier settled into her features again. "Because maybe you missed me or something. Maybe my savior decided that it was wrong to leave me after all that he went through to help me out of that horrible place. It must have been horrible, or someone would have found it before you and your brother did. You know, something like that."  
"What a strange notion," Knives remarked, taking a sip from his glass.  
"Dammit," Marissa swore, "Why do you have to be so mean?" She stood up from the table, fists balancing her as she leaned over to look him in the eye. "Maybe I was wrong, maybe you were nothing like I'd imagined. Stupid me, thinking that maybe I'd see you again. What an idiot I've been!"  
Then she did something strange, pressed her lips against his. Marissa's high-pitched fervor she'd been throwing at him in order to gather the attention of everyone else in the restaurant was now over. Both of their eyes were wide open and they stared at each other until Knives pulled away. The restaurant broke out into applause, and Marissa blinked. She grabbed her purse, turned three shades of pink darker and rushed out of the building. Knives followed, curious now, more than anything. "Come back." He didn't yell it, simply stated it as she started down the sidewalk, but it was enough to stop her.  
When he'd come close to her again, she turned and slapped him. Knives reeled back, holding a hand to his face. "What did you do that for?"  
"Why the hell did you just kiss me?" Marissa was still blushing. Her face was contorted in different emotions, none of which Knives was familiar.  
"You initiated it..." Knives said aloud.  
"Well maybe, but..." She turned her face from him, "you didn't even kiss me back."  
Knives shrugged slowly, his hand dropping from his face. "What for?" He frowned and continued down the street without Marissa. Now he knew he was in trouble. They'd have to get out of this town fast now, too many humans... Humans with all of these emotions and stupid traditions. He'd just wanted her to answer his question and now he'd opened up a whole different topic. As it was Marissa was tailing him, jabbering along even though he was ignoring her. All he wanted to do was get to Vash, get him awake somehow and get out of there. Never again, he thought, I'm never coming to this town again!  
  
Vash knew when Knives was on his way back. He could feel odd emotions rolling over him even as Knives breezed back into the hospital room. It wasn't the alcohol either. Smiling to himself, the warm brandy coated his nose and cheeks in a rosy shade of pink. Dr. Neiman was careful however, only let him have enough to cover the bottom of one snifter before putting the liquid away. Vash considered trying more of the stuff once he was able to get out of the hospital.  
The emotions rolled off of Knives, and Vash could feel his head throb. He almost felt nauseous. Once Knives learned again how to talk to their sister, he'd started giving off waves of emotions and other thoughts. Vash got used to it quickly, and never told him. Wouldn't do Knives any good to know that he was broadcasting like a satellite. However, under the present circumstances, the feelings were making Vash's stomach turn.  
His eyes weren't closed now; he looked up at Knives over the top of the book he was reading. Dr. Neiman had an extensive library, apparently he'd been quite wealthy and the cargo boxes that held his belongings survived the fall. There were books of every type, and Vash picked one up about flowers. It was interesting reading about their meanings, and he wondered if Rem had a book like it at one time. Unfortunately, as he felt the waves of confusion pour off of Knives, Vash knew he probably wouldn't get to read any more. He was starting to get a headache anyway.  
Marissa followed Knives into the room. "Stop and look at me you bastard!"  
Eyebrows shot up, "Ahem?" Vash couldn't believe what he was hearing. What in the world had Knives done to this girl to get her so riled up? At least she wasn't dead, that was a good sign.  
Knives and Marissa both looked down at him as if they'd seen a ghost. Well, up until that point they both thought he was just this side of being a vegetable. Not that far off, I am a plant, he mused, although he really doubted he was that kind of plant. "I thought you were supposed to be quiet in the hospital," he said after a moment.  
"You!" Knives nearly lunged for him, but Marissa was on him too fast. Vash was surprised, the young girl could hold her own. He wanted to chuckle as Knives spun around and lifted her off her feet. "You had something to do with this, didn't you? I'm sure of it..."  
"Put me down!"  
"You really should put her down," Vash remarked, setting his book on the stand by his bed. "I'm not sure what you're so worked up about but..."  
Knives dropped Marissa and she collapsed to her knees. He wheeled on Vash and slammed his fist into his face. Vash was knocked off the bed onto the floor, and scrambled under it realizing that Knives was still coming for him. "What did I do?" He scrambled over to Marissa and grabbed her arm. "I... I don't think we should be here any longer," he whispered, urging her to follow him out the door again, but Knives was off the bed and grabbed Vash by the arms and hauled him up.  
"You planned this. I don't know how but I know you had something to do with it!"  
Vash looked down at his brother, willing himself to be calm. He'd dealt with Knives before, so many years now, there was a way to talk him out of this, right? "What is it that we're talking about here? If I did it then I'll gladly admit to it, Knives." Marissa was edging toward the door again, but Knives stuck his foot out to lean against the wall effectively stopping her. Now he stood on one leg, holding Vash against the wall. Marissa whine below him. Vash swallowed deeply. "Let's just talk this out."  
"I'm not human, so don't talk to me like I'll rationalize things like them!" Knives threw Vash over his shoulder and he fell into a heap. Every muscle in his body ached, worse than they had during the typhoon. He backed up again, wishing that Marissa could get free and get help. Where was that gun of his when he needed it? This hospital gown wasn't going to help him win any fights.  
Marissa was in a predicament herself; Knives hauled her up with one hand at her throat. She was gasping for air. "Please... I..." Then she couldn't speak.  
Vash jumped to his feet, but Knives held out his free hand to him, "I'll kill her now, just like you wanted me to six years ago. I'll do it looking into her face. She's an insect, I'll squash her like a beetle," his fingers tightened around Marissa's neck and Vash did the only thing he could think of. He lunged for his brother, knocking all three of them to the ground. The girl was gasping for air even as Vash slugged Knives.  
"You won't! I'll kill you before you can do it," he screamed, pounding again and again at Knives' face until it bled. Knives fought back, his hand dug into Vash's face and his fingers squeezed harder at him than any human could have. Vash tried not to scream, forced Knives' hand away and twisted him over onto his stomach. Pinning Knives' hands behind his back, Vash sat on him, trying to catch his breath, even as his brother tried to free himself. "Oh no you don't. You apologize to Marissa right now."  
"Never... Never apologize to a stinking piece of garbage."  
Marissa was crying nearby. Her throat was red, and Vash was surprised she could breathe at all. Knives could have easily crushed her neck, snapped it in half, had he chosen. What the hell happened between the two of them? This wasn't good, not good at all. Now that he'd attacked Marissa, they'd be sent away... Vash would have pounded Knives' face again if he could see it, just for ruining everything with this outburst. And what to do about Marissa? She'd seen both sides of Knives now... She was in shock, sobbing by the wall, but unable to leave. "I'm sorry..." Vash said slowly, still wrestling with Knives, although his brother was losing. He liked being stronger.  
"No... I am..." Marissa managed to breathe out, although Vash was sure it hurt her to speak. "It was... All my fault."  
"How could it be?" Vash shook his head, "No, don't answer that. Knives, what happened?"  
"She kissed me."  
Vash rolled his eyes, "Oh... Is that all?" He wanted to pin a gold star on Knives' shirt for that remark. "Your first kiss, how sweet." He smiled up at her, hoping that was the truth, and by the wave of anger that swept off of Knives, Vash was pretty sure it was. "So what?"  
"Filthy stinking beast... We're nothing like them..."  
"Have you heard nothing I've said these last fif... couple of years?" Vash became very conscious that he had a confused girl sitting nearby that did not need to hear what they were. It wouldn't do her any good to know they weren't human. It never helped things in the past and wouldn't help things now. "We are exactly like them and you'd best remember that."  
"Garbage, filthy rodents, insects..." Knives was mumbling now, and Vash tried to ignore him. It would probably go on like this for another hour if he let it. Marissa was finally gathering her strength to stand again, although she looked pretty wobbly. At that moment Vash wondered why no one came to her rescue. They made a lot of noise, but no one came. Then it occurred to him maybe no one was around, Dr. Neiman left a while ago, and there weren't any other patients. Now that Vash was awake all of the nurses most likely went home as well. On the plus side he didn't feel sick anymore. He sighed, so now what? He couldn't go to Marissa and comfort her because that would mean letting Knives up. Vash wasn't so sure that was a good idea.  
"Just... What are you?" Marissa managed to say, back against the wall. "You keep talking as if..."  
"As if we aren't human?" Vash groaned inwardly, this wasn't good at all. She already figured out enough to know that they weren't normal. "I'm afraid that's part of it. My brother here..." he nodded to Knives, "Has a bit of an anger problem, as you can see."  
Knives growled, "It's all their fault! Locking away our sisters as if they were just machines to be used..." He struggled against Vash's grasp, "Let me go Vash."  
"Only if you promise not to kill her," his brother replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world. He was sure that Marissa thought he was talking to a serial murderer, trying to reason him out of killing another one because she didn't fit the profile or something. Vash's lips formed into a tight smile. That's what his brother was, a murderer, it was the simple truth, and when he snapped like this...  
"Let me up. I won't touch her." Knives relaxed and Vash stood. He sat back on the bed and stretched, watching his brother carefully so that he didn't try to go for Marissa again. Knives rolled over and sat up, rubbing his wrists. He couldn't look at her, Vash realized. Knives avoided looking at her as if it would turn him to stone, but he finally said, "We should probably leave."  
Marissa hadn't moved. She just looked down at them with what Vash could only figure was a mixture of confusion, revulsion, and curiosity. For some reason, after having her life put into danger, she still wanted to be there, to know what was going on, and to come to a conclusion. She would be one hell of a doctor someday, although by what Neiman said of her, she already was. "You haven't even told me why you came in the first place."  
"Supplies," Knives grumbled.  
"We were out of food," Vash said to clarify, "And I thought that it would do us some good to get out of the desert for awhile, see other people, that kind of thing." He shrugged, feeling his shoulders throbbing after being thrown against the wall a little while before. "Neither of us planned on the typhoon..."  
"Why... Why... did you wake me up?"  
Vash grabbed the book again knowing this conversation wouldn't end well. "To prove a point," he said simply, hoping she wouldn't inquire further, but knowing she would.  
"What point?"  
"Must you ask so many questions?" Knives said from the floor. He pulled himself to his feet, looking at her now. Vash held his breath, hoping that Knives wouldn't go for her again, and he looked around the bedside, wondering where they put his belongings. Surely his gun hadn't been lost in the sand? He could remember having it still when they came to the hospital. But having his eyes closed was not the best way to keep a track of what items went where.  
"What is your problem?"  
"He's just like that," Vash said, his eyes falling on a small cupboard across from the bed. Maybe it was in there? Knives turned on him, apparently frustrated that he couldn't do anything to this little woman, and wanting to get out of the hospital and quickly. The truth was, he felt Knives knew that if they made trouble now, they wouldn't be able to get the necessary supplies to finish work on the ship. He was pretty sure this was the only thing that kept Knives from killing Marissa. At least he hoped.  
"You still haven't answered my question," Marissa said after a moment. Vash closed one eye and thumbed through the book, wishing she would just drop the subject if he avoided it long enough, but after a moment he sighed.  
It was Knives who answered her however. "To prove that I couldn't kill you," he said. "And I couldn't."  
"You've killed others..."  
"Yes."  
Vash grimaced; this wasn't going at all as planned. They would be arrested before morning at this rate. Except, Marissa didn't seem at all turned off by Knives' sudden revelation and that was stunning in itself. "But not you," Vash added, "It wasn't like him, but he used to think you were cute." Vash waited for Knives to hit him, but it never came and looked at Knives expectantly.  
"I watched you," Knives admitted. "You were a peaceful sleeper."  
Marissa slumped down onto the floor. "I guess I don't understand..." She put her head in her hands. "I just thought that you'd come to save me..." Her voice was growing quieter, it must have hurt to speak, but she was still trying. "Guess I was wrong. You just wanted to see if you could... kill... When you couldn't you just dumped me off..." Tears rolled down her face again and she sniffled and coughed. "What was I thinking?"  
"What anyone would think," Vash said after a moment. He got up from the bed and kneeled in front of her. He knew better than to touch her, knowing she would pull away from him if he did. "I'm sorry." She looked up at him with those violet eyes and he understood why Knives couldn't kill her. Marissa was a special type of girl, someone who would have no problem marrying a nice man, having many intelligent children, and becoming an important part to the planet's history. He sighed, no matter what she felt, or thought she felt for Knives... "I'm sorry we weren't what you wanted us to be."  
"Same here," Marissa said slowly, she set her hand on his shoulder slowly and pushed up to her feet. "I think you should probably leave. I'll just tell Dad that you left in the night." She turned from them and stumbled out of the room and down the hallway. When they were alone, Vash turned and went to the cupboard and retrieved his belongings. He pulled on his pants, his shirt, and buckled his holster and gun around his waist and looked at Knives.  
His brother sat on the bed, head in his hands, eyes wide. His mind was broadcasting. Not only could Vash feel his emotions, but also words. Over and over, confusion, revulsion, anger... I'll kill them...Kill them all, burn the garbage... Should have done it in the first place. I need supplies... Get them once the filth is destroyed. Vash's eyes went just as wide, listening to this stream of confusion. The old Knives was back... Damn it. He was suddenly very glad that Knives had forgotten the gun at his own belt; otherwise he might have killed Marissa... Why? Why was he thinking these things? A kiss... All of this was because of a kiss! It was a perfectly human thing, right? Rem talked about it once in awhile, would kiss them goodnight as well. But Knives... For fifty years he didn't believe himself to be a human at all, so what was so wrong with it? Sure, the girl loved him...  
"It's not love," Knives growled. He looked up at Vash, his eyes were cold. The light was gone from them, and Vash backed up a step.  
"You heard me?"  
"What you are thinking... Yes. I've been practicing."  
Vash's eyes narrowed, "First you put this transmitter on me," he tugged at his earring, "and now you listen in on my thoughts as well? When will it end, Knives? You might be my brother but you are not my keeper..."  
"As long as you are like them, I will be."  
"Newsflash Knives, you're just like me."  
"NEVER." Knives was on his feet now, his hand on his gun. He unsnapped it and Vash backed up another step, his own hand going to retrieve his piece if necessary. All the while his head spun with suicidal and murderous thoughts that broadcasted around the room and hung thick. Vash blinked, steadily watching his brother's movements, standing there, fingers twitching on the gun. "I'm going to do what I should have done six years ago. I'm going to destroy this town."  
"What?"  
Knives growled, pulling his gun and aiming it at Vash's head. "And you're going to help."  
"I... I can't... You can't... We can't!" Vash couldn't bring himself to pull his gun from its holster. He just kept looking into Knives' lightless eyes. I'll kill them. Kill them all. I can't have them corrupting me, my plans. I can't have them corrupting you either, Vash. He blinked, the thoughts were so clear in his head, words as if he'd spoken them out loud. Kill or be killed.  
"But what about Marissa?" Vash knew the moment he spoke her name it was the wrong thing to do. Knives pulled back his arm, and everything went black. 


	5. Plants

Chapter 5  
_ Plants_  
  
Knives threw Vash over his shoulder for the second time that day. It was dark out now, past midnight, although the main three moons were overhead, half-full. They cast a dim light on the plants at the edge of town. There were three, two on one side of the town, the third about a half-mile away. He headed to the pair on the right, hearing their voices from the distance. Are you ready, sisters? He asked them, listening to their responses, a mix of emotions, mostly pleasant, curious, eager to see him. Knives felt them from the ship, but could not respond to them until now.  
Very few people stirred at this time of night. A few drunks stumbled out of the bar laughing as he walked by, but took no notice of them. A few straggling teenagers disappeared down into an alley, and a dog whined as they beat it. Knives' lips formed into a twisted smile. This town didn't deserve to be on his planet. It was corrupted, less than fifty years and the humans were already spreading their filth. Humans were evil. They used what they needed, discarded what they didn't, and did what they pleased without any thoughts to morality. Farther into the town he could hear a woman crying, a man screaming, children ran out into the street in front of him, yelling for help. Knives ignored them. He would help them soon enough, by killing them.  
Soon he passed into the hull of what remained of the great ship and made his way up to the plants. Vash stirred on his shoulder. "Don't do this," he whispered, "Please don't do this."  
"I've made up my mind," Knives replied, throwing his brother onto the steps. Vash grunted in pain, he hit the stairs and his head made a sharp crack. He closed his eyes but didn't cry out. "Get up." Vash did as he was told, a hand slowly reached up to the back of his head, and his fingers came away covered in blood. He didn't look away from Knives, resolve set in on his features, and he dropped his hand to his side. "That's better," Knives said, pulled his gun and pointed up the stairs. "Walk."  
Vash did as he was told, painfully climbing the steps ahead of Knives. His hair was soaked in the blood from his new wound and Knives watched the color deepen as they went. It was always their blood that this planet was built on, their blood that spilled for the humans to survive. Now he would turn the tables, now the humans would spill blood, their blood to mix with the sand to form the building blocks of paradise. Knives' tight lips pressed open and he pushed his gun into Vash's back. "Faster."  
"I am..." Vash replied, taking the steps two at a time now, buckling as pains shot through him, Knives felt the emotions rolling off of Vash. He could hear his words, they did nothing to us, nothing but help us, and this is how you repay their kindness, by killing them? I'll stop you. You know that, don't you? They were close now; the plant above already descended into her angelic shape, agonizingly beautiful to Knives. She pressed up against the glass, looking at her brothers eagerly. Her mouth was open in silent awe as Knives made one last shove and Vash fell to his knees in front of the glass globe. He moaned and remained still, eyes open, looking up at Knives, pleading for him not to do whatever it was he was planning to do.  
Knives ignored him, put his hand against the glass and could feel the connection open between him and the angel. His sister was strong. She'd do just fine in this little endeavor. He was unsure what would happen to her or her other siblings, Knives never made one use so much power before, and for a moment it gave him pause. He already lost so many of their family during the crash, so much more to the use of the humans, but none of them pushed the plants to their extreme limit. This would be a first.  
"You'll kill her," Vash mumbled from the ground, his green eyes filled with tears, face covered in sticky blood from his hands. "She's not strong enough to survive destroying the town."  
"What do you know?" Knives hissed, "You're a coward. One life given to destroy these humans will be worth it. She knows that."  
Pulling himself up, Vash cringed with the effort, but was able to stand again. "You're the coward, making others do your dirty work."  
Knives turned on him, no more; he would not stand his brother's words any more. He raised his gun and fired, Vash fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder. "I'm not a coward Vash. I will do this, and set things right again." He started to turn, but Vash was moving again. Knives looked down on him, his brother was actually pulling his own gun, cocking it with a pained grimace, and held it level with Knives' head.  
"I'll stop you."  
With a laugh, Knives turned, lifting his hands up like bandits did in the old movies he watched with Rem. "Do it. Shoot me. You're lucky I even put your gun back in its place when you were unconscious." He waited, looking down on Vash, smiling, knowing that his brother couldn't do it. Now who was the strong one? Vash showed his weakness by hesitating. Knives laughed again. He opened his mouth to talk, but something caught his attention, his eyes turned. There was someone coming up the steps. Lowering his hands, he aimed his gun at the dark silhouette. "Who are you?"  
"Don't kill him," came the reply. Marissa stood at the top of the platform. Her eyes were on Knives' gun, but they soon focused instead on his face. His fingers twitched on the trigger, but didn't fire. She was trying to smile. "I know you're not like this... You're a good man." Knives sneered; Piece of garbage thinks she can save her own life by talking? The gun fired, but the bullet passed harmlessly over her shoulder. He aimed too high. Marissa almost sighed with relief, "You aren't a bad man. I can see it in your eyes..."  
"I'm not a man," Knives growled back, lowering his gun. He fired again, it skimmed her face and Marissa fell to her knees, clutching her cheek. "I'm a murderer." Again the gun went off, it hit Marissa's shoulder and she screamed.  
"Stop!" Vash cried behind him. He was struggling with his own wounds, fired his gun, sending the bullet flying into the darkness. Knives looked at him over his shoulder. Strange, he thought to himself, Vash isn't even aiming at me. He's good with his gun now, near perfect aim. He wouldn't miss... Where? His eyes fell suddenly on the plant. Another shot and a crack appeared in the plant's bulb. Knives' eyes went wide.  
"What do you think you're doing?"  
"Stopping you," Vash growled, climbing to his feet, his hurt arm dangling at his side. He was holding his gun by his left hand. No wonder the first shot missed. Knives laughed, but Vash fired another bullet into the plant and the glass cracked more.  
Knives lowered his gun, "You'll kill her."  
"I don't care about the plant," Vash replied, sending another shot into the glass. "She means less to me than that woman lying there." He took a step toward Marissa and his eyes were sad. "Have you lost everything good in you? Have you forgotten everything Rem taught us? We came here to make paradise for all of us. We can live together in peace." Vash took another step, then another, until he was standing at Marissa's side. "She wasn't scared of us, otherwise she wouldn't have followed us."  
"You're no longer my brother," Knives stepped back from them. He watched Vash kneel next to Marissa and pull her into his lap, holding a hand over her shoulder to stop the bleeding. The wound could be mortal if it were not treated in time. He could smell the coppery scent in the air. It hung heavy, and he breathed it in eagerly as he had the last time he killed someone. Life was so short, so feeble, these humans so weak, their life poured out of them in a red stream and then it was extinguished.  
Knives turned, no more waiting. Holstering his gun, he pressed both hands against the glass. The plant followed suit, her hollow eyes watching him, focused on one thing. He could feel her power riding on the surface of the glass. More, he urged her through their link. Use it all, glow for me. The plant did as she was told; her skin glowed, crackled with power, until the glass enclosure looked like a light bulb. The light burst out over the town like one of the suns.  
  
"No..." Marissa's small voice pleaded. "No Millions, please, don't!" Vash looked down at her, clutching her in his arms, if Knives did this, he'd shield her if he could. There wasn't much else he could do. The life was leaking out of her, but she was fighting it, thank God she was fighting it. "Look at me, please... You spared my life once..."  
Knives looked down on them, the light from the plant didn't even reflect in his eyes. They were as empty as the plant behind him. "I am god of this place, I spare whom I choose," he said in a deep rumble. Vash could feel Marissa shutter in his grasp, and even he felt more than a little afraid. Was there nothing he could do? His gun... He could... No, he couldn't...  
"I'm too weak, I'm sorry," he whispered in Marissa's ear. She shook her head, and he looked into her eyes. They were strong, so very strong. He knew she'd live, no matter what happened... It made him feel a hundred times better when she looked at him.  
The plant was glowing brighter, and she started to scream. The sound caught Vash off-guard and he cringed with the memory. Now the other two plants were screaming. They were like banshees, and the lights in the town started going on. Everyone could hear them; people were streaming out of their houses, looking at the plants. Lights in the city popped on and exploded throughout the city. The power leaking from the plants was massive; it surged through everything destroying the wires and melting the circuits. The humans knew what was happening, but were unable to do anything, staring up into the light blindly. Run, Vash pleaded with them silently, leave this town and don't look back... Save yourselves... But they didn't move, just stood down below watching.  
He turned to look at Knives; his brother was wrapped around the glass bulb as if it were a lover. "Kill them all... We shall make our paradise from their blood..." Knives was smiling.  
Vash pulled out his gun, tears coming to his eyes. He lifted it slowly. Is this it Rem? I don't have another choice do I? I can't let him kill all of these people... With his hand shaking, he looked down the barrel at Knives; the plants were reaching critical now. The power crackled off of them, jumped from bulb to bulb around the town like lightning. People were screaming. They were running now in horror. Too late, they wouldn't get out of town fast enough. Vash wasn't even sure now if he were to kill Knives if he could stop the plants... The plants!  
The gun went off and the glass above Knives cracked. A second and the outside air hissed as it filled the vacuum of the bulb. Knives pulled away in horror. "No!" He turned on Vash, "No! What do you think you're doing?"  
"Stopping you!" The plant's light already started to fade. She was unsure; Vash could hear a question from her. Was she going to die? What would happen to the little children? They'll die too, Vash answered her. When you die, the town will die. It will disappear under the sand. Do you want that? He sent the message to all three plants. Then he turned to Knives. His brother pulled his gun, shakily, the power from their sisters made his skin glow. He looked like a terrible angel of death.  
Marissa passed out in Vash's arms. "Marissa? Marissa! Wake up!" Vash tried shaking her, but she lost too much blood. He pulled out from under her and got to his feet. "You've gone too far this time, Knives."  
"You are a plant, Vash. Do you really care for them so much you'd give your life for them?" Knives steadied his gun. The plants were calming now, the light started to fade. Vash couldn't see his brother's features as well now. And for some reason, he couldn't hear his thoughts either. He must have learned to shield them before...  
"I'd gladly give my life than be like you," Vash replied. He held his gun up as well. There was only one bullet left. It would have to do. I'm sorry Rem... I didn't want to have to do this. I thought he would change. I thought when he saw Marissa again...  
"Stop it!" Knives hissed. He shot Vash in the leg and he toppled to the ground. The pain was intense, he screamed, clutching the wound. "That woman, that bitch, you talk to her as if she were still alive! All along, always talking to her... I'm glad she died. But she's corrupted you, made you think that you were human... I hated her and you should have too." Tears rolled down Vash's face, the pain was starting to recede, the bullet would probably push its way out soon, but he was weakening. Soon he wouldn't even be able to hold his gun.  
Shakily, he lifted his head; raising the gun Knives gave him. "I loved her. And you should have too."  
The brothers fired. Gunshots echoed over the town. Then silence. 


	6. Alone

Chapter 6  
_ Alone_  
  
There was a throbbing pain in his chest. Vash could feel it every time he breathed. His heart felt heavy, it hurt, every inch of him, without thinking about it, it hurt. Vash twitched his fingers; he could feel them, they moved slowly as he raised his hand to his chest. It felt heavy, so heavy. His eyes fluttered open into the light and he moaned. "Where... Where am I?"  
No one answered, but as his eyes adjusted, he knew he was back in the hospital. Lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling... What happened? He remembered shooting Knives, remembered his brother's gun going off at the same time, but then it was all dark. Where was Knives? What about Marissa? He squeezed his eyes shut, maybe it was all a dream, maybe he fell asleep and it was all a dream. But in his heart he knew it wasn't. Everything happened just as he remembered it. So did he kill Knives? Was he dead? But why was he alive? His chest hurt...  
Fingers carefully pried at the bandages over his heart. It was painful, very painful. He moved his head, looking down, ignoring the headache he got as he bent his head to look at the wound. Underneath the bandages was a heavy metal mesh. It was screwed into his ribcage. What in the world did they do to him? Knives shot him in the heart... But he survived, and now... Vash laid his head back into the pillow. Knives was right, they were immortal. If he could survive this, he could survive anything. Knives wasn't dead, he was out there somewhere, just as alive, even if his shot was dead on, Vash knew he would see his brother again.  
But what about Marissa? Vash sighed. There were drugs in his system. That's why he couldn't move without hurting. Must be. It was nice to feel the pain, to feel human for once. He smiled grimly, but even that hurt. Vash wanted to get out of the bed and find out what happened. They had to tell him... "Hello! Hello? Is anyone out there?"  
"Shut up..." A voice came from his left, and Vash turned his head to look at the source. "You're giving me a headache." Vash's eyes widened.  
"Marissa?"  
"Who did you think it was?" She turned her head to look at him. "You look terrible." Her neck was bruised, her shoulder bandaged, and her eyes were bloodshot. "Don't tell me, I look bad too..." She chuckled to herself. "But I wasn't shot three times." Marissa coughed and cringed. "Throat still hurts however."  
Vash heaved out a sigh, "You're alive."  
"Thanks to you," she said. "I shouldn't have followed you... But I had to know..." The girl coughed again and she reached out her good arm to grab a glass of water by the bed. After taking a sip, she looked over at Vash. "I wanted to know why he didn't kill me. I guess I hoped that maybe he..."  
"Liked you?" Vash shook his head and closed his eyes. "He hates the whole human race, Marissa. I don't think Knives can like anyone. He's forgotten how to love."  
Marissa laughed, "I doubt that man ever knew how."  
"He did," Vash thought back to Rem. "Once. He was kind once." His eyes opened and he moved his hands to get a grip on the bed. Marissa watched him, she opened her mouth to say something, but Vash ignored her and pulled himself up in the bed. He cringed, but the pain was starting to recede now that he was awake. "Where is he, do you know?"  
The girl shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't. My Dad said one of the plant workers found us last night. We were all alone, there was no sign of him." She chuckled, "They said you looked dead. I would have believed it too. Dad said your heart stopped. The bullet bent your ribs inward, and ripped through your heart. He was about to do an autopsy when it started beating again." Marissa slowly turned on her side and looked at him. "I'm sure he would apologize for the haphazard job he did, he said the mesh was the only way he could figure out to pull your ribs back into place long enough to let your heart continue beating."  
Vash set his hand back on his chest and shrugged. "I'll have to thank him."  
"You already have, by saving my daughter." Vash and Marissa looked over to Dr. Neiman. He was holding a tray of bandages, but managed not to drop them this time. Apparently he'd gotten over the shock of Vash healing quickly. He came over to the bed and set the tray down. "You are awake again I see. Mind telling me how come? A human wouldn't have survived it."  
"I'm not a human," Vash replied. He looked down at his hands. "Please, don't ask me any more. It would only put you in danger."  
Dr. Neiman opened his mouth but Marissa shushed him. "He's right Dad. Just look at where it got me." She smiled slightly as Vash looked at her. He couldn't believe she was so light-hearted after everything that happened. How could she still bare to look at him? Marissa had almost died because of him and his brother, and yet... Yet, here she was, smiling, violet eyes filled with forgiveness. "Has there been any word on his brother?"  
Vash turned to look at the doctor, but the old man shook his head. "No one saw him leave. But Frank's car is missing. There are tracks leading out into the desert." He pulled back the sheets over Vash's lap and started to examine the bullet wound on his leg. "Looks like you'll be up in a few days," he said after a moment. "You heal quickly. I just wish Marissa had your... whatever it is."  
"No, I don't think you would," Vash replied slowly. "When I can stand again I'll leave town. I'm really sorry about all of this."  
"You could... Always stay..." Marissa said next to him. He turned to look at her. She was still smiling. "If your brother thinks you're dead, I'm sure that he won't come back. It would be nice to have you around." She lowered her head and blushed.  
He shook his head, "No. I have to go find him. He's dangerous, and I'm the only one who can stop him."  
"Oh."  
Vash sighed. "Thank you for the offer. I wish I could stay."  
Marissa looked up at him with her violet eyes and she smiled. "Me too."  
  
The suns were high over the city when Vash climbed the stairs to the plant. The engineers struggled to save it, but after the outside air seeped in, his sister just faded away. Vash looked at the inanimate plant with sorrow. I'm sorry, Sister. He pressed his hands to the cool glass and tears rolled down his cheeks. He wasn't like her, but she had been alive, and it was wrong to kill her, just like any other creature. Vash sniffed and wiped his nose with a sleeve. There wasn't anything more he could do. It was his fault she died, but he couldn't think of another way to stop Knives... Could he have made a better decision? Saved everyone? Vash closed his eyes; he'd do better next time when he found Knives again.  
Knives, Vash thought, opening up his mind even as he opened his eyes. Where did you go? There was no response. He didn't really expect one. Vash turned to walk back down the steps, listening to the engineers talking. They'd lost a third of the city's power when the plant died. He bit his lip hearing this, adding more salt to his open wounds. The other two plants were struggling to make up for her loss. In time they would most likely learn to live with one less plant, but the city would suffer until then.  
Vash continued his walk. He didn't really help anything at all did he? Knives was still out there and dangerous. Marissa was okay, but forever scarred. The city lost one of its plants. All he wanted to do was to show Knives that the humans weren't all evil, that they weren't all garbage. Why didn't Knives see that? These people took them both in without a question, took care of them and even showed love to him... Vash smiled briefly, Marissa had fallen in love with Knives. Didn't matter that it was just an idea she had of him, for six years it was he she wanted to see most, to learn more about... Knives. The killer of millions of people, stranding them on this desert planet forever, and not even human. But she loved him. It saved her life too. He could have killed her easily, could have sent that shot straight into her heart, but he missed, and Vash had a feeling it might have been on purpose. Whether it was or not, she survived Knives' wrath, and Vash knew that she'd do great things one day. Only God could have saved her.  
Outside of the plant facility, Michael, Frank and Stephanie were sitting in their car eating lunch. Vash looked up at them, he'd met them about a week before, when they came to the hospital. Stephanie and Michael were engaged. Frank was Stephanie's older brother; he worked part time at the plant and did other odd jobs around the town. They were humans, living normal lives, but they all stopped to help... These three cared for the brothers instantly without question. So why didn't Knives see that?  
Vash's eyes fell on the car. There were only a few cars around the town, they normally were shipped from one of the cities, usually December, but the car they sat in now had not arrived by sand steamer. "Guess what we found," Frank said, leaning over his door to look at Vash. He held out a sandwich.  
Vash's eyes went wide, "That isn't your old car is it?" He stepped forward and took the food without question. Ah... Salmon. Vash smiled, "Thanks, this is very good." It didn't take him long to finish it.  
Frank nodded; he hitched a thumb at Michael. "The two of us followed the tracks out into the desert a few days ago. At first they were real clear, but then they disappeared, but Mike said we should go a bit farther, and finally we found it." He smiled, patting his car with a gentle hand. It was a special thing to have a working vehicle around these parts. "Ran out of gas and he didn't know to check the trunk for more. There weren't footprints or anything, but there was a lot of blood."  
"Took me four hours to clean it all up," Stephanie piped up from the backseat. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand almost to demonstrate how much work she put into it for her brother. "I'm surprised whoever lost that much blood survived."  
Vash nodded slowly, "Which direction was it headed in when you found it?"  
"Straight east, towards the small sun," Michael answered. He tilted his head to the side and adjusted his coveralls. "You going after him?"  
"I've got to," Vash replied. "Although..." His mind trailed off for a time. If Knives were headed toward the little ship, he would have driven southeast, not directly east. There was a small mountain range that separated the southern and northern parts of the sandworm territory. To the south was where they uncovered the small ship, to the far north, the mother ship, but why go to the mountains? He shook his head, it didn't make sense. "I'm not exactly sure where he was headed... Or if he'll go back to where we were staying."  
Stephanie leaned out from the car, "Then why go at all? You're a smart guy, I'm sure Frank and the boys could use your help getting the plants working again." Frank nodded slowly, but they all seemed to know that Vash wasn't going to stay. She shrugged, "Well, you will come back for the wedding, won't you? It's only a month away, once we get the spare room built."  
Vash smiled, "I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the sandwich." He turned and walked down the street back to the hospital. It was quiet this time of day. The whole town was quiet since the plant died. Vash pushed through the front doors and looked over at the nurse behind the desk. She smiled and pulled out his belongings. "Thanks for watching them," he said slowly and looked around. "Where are Marissa and the Doc?"  
"Gone to lunch," the nurse replied. "They're over at Shelby's..."  
"No... I need to go. Tell them thank you for me, okay?" The nurse started to open her mouth, but Vash silenced her, "It's better this way." He left the hospital and walked down the long road out of town. It was harder to leave this time than it had been before. Things were different now. He wasn't sure about his destination, there was no place to go to besides the little ship... Vash readjusted the bag on his shoulder as he walked up the hills leading to the sea of sand. He hoped that Knives would be there, but unsure what he would do if he found his brother again. The seeds of hate fermented within Knives. He'd be a stronger man now, more dangerous, especially if he thought that his brother was dead.  
Even though Vash felt Knives' tight leash around him, the truth was he was the only thing keeping his brother in check for these last fifty years. What would happen now that his conscience was gone? Vash shivered to even think about it. He'd go back to the ship and wait. It was the only thing he could do. Even if he had to be alone, he'd find his brother someday. Or Knives would find him. 


	7. Epilogue: A Mystery

Epilogue  
_A Mystery  
_  
Death and debris. It was all that ever followed him, even now, after two years of hiding, his past resurfaced. Vash bent his head into his arms and looked out over the field. Knives was back. It wasn't Vash hunting his brother now. Knives had sent two of his finest soldiers to get him this time. Time after time, these Gung-Ho Guns would surface, fight him, wasting their own lives for a god they worshipped, but knew nothing about... He was the devil; Knives had long ago ceased to be human. Vash knew that when he was forced to use whatever power existed in his own body to put the hole in the fifth moon.  
Now he no longer wanted to search for Knives. He couldn't remember... Something made him want to continue looking, some forgotten promise to himself that was buried with July. He shuttered, tears rolling down his face. His brother was no longer the little boy he remembered, he was a monster now; and he was still alive. There was just so much he'd forgotten, it was taken away from him... Just like Rem.  
Vash wiped the tears from his eyes and pushed the hair back from his face. The village was destroyed; his home on the SEEDS ship wasn't safe any more. He had stopped Leonof... Ninelives was destroyed, but the damage was done. Over half the people were dead. Vash knew there was nothing more he could do but leave. Those on the ship still murmured his name as he passed them by. Luida and the others of the older generation still trusted him; they had saved him from the desert so long ago, when he'd given up on finding Knives. But those like Brad were anxious to get rid of him. He knew why, they were afraid Knives would send others, and Vash knew he would.  
Looking up at the tree where he sat, Vash could feel the slight breeze from the weather generators far above. It was cool today, but pleasant. Young children, too small to help bury the dead, were playing in the grass with a red ball. They laughed, running by, wide eyes at the stranger they'd never met but had all heard about. Maybe someday they would be the adults, taking over the affairs of the city. But Vash would never change. He would always look the same as he did, maybe with a few more scars, a bit more black hair, but forever the same.  
"What's wrong?" A voice came from down the hill, and Vash lowered his eyes to see the little insurance girl. She reminded him of someone. But he couldn't place her. The memory was lost. So many memories lost in the wreckage of that city where he awoke in tears... She was smiling, violet eyes bright as she skirted the little children in their game of tag. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
"I'm fine. I was just thinking." Vash replied as she came to sit down next to him. "Where's Milly and Wolfwood?"  
"Back in the infirmary. Luida wanted Milly to keep an eye on Mr. Wolfwood so he wouldn't get out of bed, or smoke for that matter. He's positive he's well enough to get up but he looked pretty pale." She smiled faintly, looking over the geoplant. "It's beautiful here. I can see why they keep it a secret."  
Vash nodded in reply, his eyes on the city. It all looked peaceful now. But his brother was out there in the desert still, waiting for him. There were so many monsters left. They needed to be stopped, and Vash knew in his heart he needed to remember what happened before he could. He had to come to terms with what he was... What was it that Knives knew about him that he didn't? Some secret long buried in his memory... Buried in the sand.  
"Thank you, by the way," Meryl said after a time. She seemed to enjoy the silence as much as he did, but the day's events still weighed heavy on her mind. "You saved Milly and I. I really appreciate it."  
"It's the least I could have done, you did save me from that insurance guy," Vash replied. He smiled as Meryl looked at him shocked. "Oh yes, I knew it was you. Wanted to thank you then, but you left so suddenly..."  
Meryl blushed, "Oh, well, I was on vacation at the time, and I knew I'd meet up with you again someday. At least I hoped so. It might be part of my job but..." She turned away from him and he chuckled. What did Rem say about women? That they were a mystery... He thought that was it, what else... "I'm glad we were able to find you again. I missed your dopey face."  
And someday, Vash, you'll find a girl whose mystery you'll want to solve. Vash smiled and set a hand on Meryl's shoulder. "I missed you too, Insurance Girl." He grinned as she turned to look at him. Moments later she thunked him on the head. "Ow! Whatcha do that for?"  
"Insurance Girl? I go through all of this and you still can't call me by my name?" Meryl got up from her seat and stormed off. Vash remained sitting there rubbing his head. He chuckled. A mystery indeed. Just like all of his life. But just like it, something he was bound and determined to solve. Someday, if he could remember what was forgotten -- whom he'd forgotten. _Someday soon.  
_  
AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
The majority of this story was based on the Trigun Maximum manga. Most of the details are my own take on what might have happened during gaps in the story. For instance, we don't really know what happened to Vash and Knives after the fall. There are a few short scenes that give us a couple details, but definitely nothing to say exactly where they were at what time, how many years they were together or what they did in the meantime. The details I used from the manga were mainly just flashback scenes. Mention of Vash learning how to shoot a gun and wounding a man when he was younger was taken from I believe Maximum #6. The epilogue was during Maximum #3 after Vash saved Milly and Meryl from Ninelives, immediately at the end of the book, but before Maximum #4 picks up.  
Someone wondered whether or not the earring and gun references were from the manga. They aren't. I'm not sure where Vash got his earring or who he got his gun from. I have a feeling Marlon might have actually had something to do with his gun since he has another gun of similar make to Vash's where the barrel is placed at the bottom of the gun rather than at the top. Then again, perhaps the people on the SEEDS ship might have given it to him. At this point it hasn't been covered as far as I know from the translations I've read.  
There are a few things I've wondered about that haven't been covered in the manga but considered putting into this story. The first being how Vash looses his left arm. The scene in the anime doesn't appear in the manga, and Vash still has his left arm in one scene after July. But there is a drawing of him with a fake arm in Maximum #3 which is a flashback to 70 years before - so I'm not sure when he lost it. I've always been curious about it. I wonder whether Knives took it or he lost it some other way. Another thing is how Bill Conrad could still be alive when he was on the ship that Rem and the boys were on. I tried to give my own explanation in this story – that the Cold Sleep Chamber survived impact, and that Conrad was still there. In my hypothesis, later on a group of people go out into the desert, find the ship, and wake the sleepers. Knives and Vash visit again at separate times to find the sleepers are all gone. And so that's when both go looking for Conrad.  
  
POST NOTES: What Vash didn't remember:  
Yes, if you guessed it, Meryl's ancestor was Marissa (at least in my story she was!) I didn't want to say it in so many words, just so you didn't think I was being too repetitive since I did something similar with Helen in "Finding Home". In my estimation, Vash has probably played a part in everyone's life on the planet at one time or another, so it would only make sense if he knew the insurance girl's ancestors. (I'm also tipping my hat to Thunk's story, "Two Plants and a Girl" – I loved the idea of having Meryl be in the cold sleep pod and the fact Knives likes her. So please don't say I'm taking someone else's ideas, this is merely my way of showing gratitude to a very good story that I just love! You know, sincerest form of flattery and all that...)  
What I wanted to cover but didn't want to clutter the story with: After Vash takes off from the city, he went back to the supply ship to find Knives gone. He does wait for Knives for a time, but with the food replicator down he doesn't last very long. Vash goes back into town for Stephanie and Michael's wedding, and tells the city of the plant in the ship. The city retrieves it, and Vash takes off in search of Knives again, this time for good. He'll never return to the city.  
  
Hoped you liked it! Thanks so much for reading! 


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